By Will McSheehy and Shani Raja Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for a second day and commodity prices advanced after a report showed U.S. pending home sales increased, spurring confidence in the recovery of the world’s biggest economy. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent to 118.25 as of 11:50 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its advance in the past two days to 1.7 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.1 percent following a 1.3 percent gain in regular trading yesterday. Copper for three-month delivery advanced for a third day, gaining 0.7 percent to $6,860 a metric ton. Aluminum added 0.7 percent to $2,127 a ton. “We’re getting more and more confirmation the cyclical recovery is on track,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Investors, which oversees $90 billion. “The fundamentals continue to be supportive.” U.S. stocks rose after the National Association of Realtors said an index of pending home sales rose 1 percent following a 16 percent drop in November that was the largest since records began in 2001. A nine-quarter earnings slump for S&P 500 companies is projected to have ended in the final three months of 2009, and almost 81 percent of earnings published since Jan. 11 topped the average of Wall Street estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China’s economic growth won’t fall below 8 percent this year, National Bureau of Statistics Chief Economist Yao Jinyuan said, according to a Shanghai Securities News report today. Housing Stocks Six stocks advanced on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index for every two that declined. South Korea’s Kospi Index advanced 0.6 percent. Japan’s Topix added 0.5 percent. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., jumped 3.7 percent to A$7.95, while Boral Ltd., a building materials company that gets 11 percent of its sales in the U.S., advanced 5.6 percent to A$5.60. Both stocks were upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” by UBS AG. “The U.S. housing market is rebounding,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. in Tokyo. “The economy is definitely recovering. Exporters and commodity related shares will be the focus today.” Nissan Motor Co., which derives more than a third of revenue from North America, gained 1.7 percent after saying vehicle sales in the U.S. rose 16 percent in January. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, added 2.3 percent to A$41.37, while Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company, added 0.9 percent to A$71.64. Alumina Gains Alumina Ltd. rose 1.2 percent to A$1.655 as Citigroup Inc. recommended investors buy shares of Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum maker. Alumina operates the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemical venture with Alcoa. The dollar traded at 90.35 yen from 90.38 yen and was unchanged at $1.395 per euro. The pound advanced against 13 of its 16 major counterparts on prospects the U.K. will curb easing measures as the nation emerges from its worst recession, rising 0.2 percent to 144.63 yen. “Speculation some Bank of England’s policy makers will show a hawkish view on the outlook for the economy and monetary policy is supporting the pound,” said Toshiya Yamauchi, manager of foreign-exchange margin trading at Ueda Harlow in Tokyo. South Korea’s won rose 0.6 percent to 1,153.15 per dollar on optimism a global economic recovery will boost appetite for emerging-market assets. The extra yield investors demand to own developing-nation dollar debt instead of U.S. Treasuries dropped 8 basis points to 3.01 percentage points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI+ Index. Bond Risk The Markit iTraxx Asia index of credit-default swaps on 50 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan fell 3 basis points to 110.5, Citigroup Inc. prices show. The risk benchmark fell 1.4 basis points yesterday, its first decline in six trading days, according to CMA DataVision prices in New York. Oil pared some of yesterday’s 3.8 percent gain, dropping below $77 a barrel in New York after an industry report showed a larger-than-expected increase in crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest energy consumer. Oil declined for the first day in three after the American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories rose 4.72 million barrels last week. Crude for March delivery dropped as much as 40 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $76.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. To contact the reporters for this story: Will McSheehy in Singapore at wmcsheehy@bloomberg.netShani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net

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