US retail sales, Japan economy boost Asian stocks

Asian stocks rose following the longest series of weekly losses since June after US retail sales increased by the most in four months and Japan's second-quarter gross domestic product beat economist estimates. Toyota Motor Corporation, the largest carmaker by market value, climbed 2.9 per cent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, gained 4.3 per cent in Sydney amid optimism metals demand will pick up. Leighton Holdings Ltd, Australia's biggest builder, surged 8.3 per cent after saying it expects to return to annual profit. Article continues below PICC Property & Casualty Company jumped 10 per cent in Hong Kong after first-half earnings almost doubled from a year earlier. "Investors may be heartened that things don't seem quite as disastrous as they seemed," said Stephen Halmarick, Sydney- based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about $150 billion (Dh550.9 billion). "Still, markets have got to come to terms with the fact that global growth isn't going to be nearly as robust as they once expected." The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.9 per cent to 124.19 in Tokyo. Eight stocks advanced for each one that declined, and nine out of 10 industry groups tracked by the index climbed. The gauge completed its third straight weekly loss last week after Standard & Poor's cut its rating on US credit and concern grew that Europe's debt crisis may spread. Ten-day historical volatility on the MSCI index climbed last week to the highest level since March. Japanese growth Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.4 per cent after the Cabinet office reported gross domestic product shrank at an annualised 1.3 per cent rate in the three months ended June 30. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 2.5 per cent drop. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.3 per cent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 2.6 per cent. The Taiex Index added 2.4 per cent in Taipei. Markets in India and South Korea are shut for a public holiday. Futures on the US S&P 500 Index advanced 0.6 per cent. The gauge rose 0.5 per cent on Friday, capping the biggest two-day advance for benchmark indexes since March 2009, after the Commerce Department reported a 0.5 per cent increase in retail sales for July. First-time applications for jobless benefits decreased in the week ended August 6 to the fewest since early April, the Labour Department said August 11. "People had been worried about the US economy over the medium term, but after retail sales and an earlier jobs report exceeded estimates, people's fears weren't amplified," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Company in Tokyo. "There will be some buying in exporters and large-cap stocks." Toyota advanced 2.9 per cent to 2,901 yen in Tokyo. In Hong Kong, Li & Fung Ltd, which supplies clothes and toys to retailers including Wal-Mart Stores, increased 7.6 per cent to HK$13.82.