Singapore: Asian stocks rose for the first time in three days after Australian employers added more workers than estimated and an improving appetite for European government debt eased concern over the region's budget deficit crisis.
National Australia Bank Ltd. rallied 3.7 per cent on optimism it won't need to raise capital to finance a takeover. Canon Inc., which gets 32 per cent of its sales in Europe, gained 1.1 per cent and Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, rose 1.9 per cent in Tokyo. SM Prime Holdings Inc., the Philippines' biggest shopping mall operator, jumped 9.7 per cent as a gain in the nation's exports fuelled economic growth prospects.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.9 per cent to 121.54 as of 6:04 pm in Tokyo after a two-day, 1.2 per cent decline. The measure has climbed 4.9 per cent from a one-month low on August 25 amid speculation the US economy will avoid slipping back into recession.
"Some of the extreme bearishness of the past few weeks has been flowing out," said Stephen Halmarick, who helps manage about $135 billion (Dh 495.882 billion) as head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Sydney.
"The Australian employment numbers reinforce the message that the economy continues to do extraordinarily well compared to most other countries."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.8 per cent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.4 per cent. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 2.6 per cent to a record high after a government report showed the country's exports rose for a ninth month.
Philippine record
South Korea's Kospi index added 0.3 per cent, paring an earlier gain of 0.6 percent after the central bank unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged. China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.4 per cent, paced by real-estate developers amid concern the government will strengthen measures to curb speculation.
Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.3 per cent. The gauge gained 0.6 per cent on Wednesday amid evidence of improving demand for Portuguese and Polish bonds. The Federal Reserve also said the US economy maintained its expansion while showing "widespread signs of a deceleration" in mid-July through the end of August, according to a survey by 12 regional Fed banks.
Stocks in Australia were bolstered by a report from the statistics bureau showing that the nation's employers added 30,900 more workers in August from July. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 25,000. The jobless rate fell to 5.1 per cent from 5.3 per cent.
