Asian stocks rose for the second straight week as Japanese companies began resuming production after the nation’s worst earthquake, and Chinese firms posted profits that beat analyst estimates.
Hitachi Ltd. (6501), the Japanese maker of products from home appliances to nuclear reactors, jumped 3.9 percent in Tokyo after the Nikkei newspaper reported its main factory in Japan will resume full production next month. HTC Corp. (2498), the Taiwanese mobile-phone maker that gets about half its sales from America, rose 7.6 percent after a report showed U.S. companies added more workers in March. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. gained 3 percent in Hong Kong this week after 2010 earnings surpassed analyst estimates.
“There’s been solid earnings from Chinese companies and U.S. data has also been encouraging,” said Ng Soo Nam, the Singapore-based chief investment officer at Nikko Asset Management Co., which oversees about $126 billion. “The worst of the nuclear crisis in Japan could be behind us.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8 percent to 135.32 this week. The gauge last week recorded its biggest gain since November as Japan made progress stabilizing reactors at a nuclear plant crippled after the earthquake and a tsunami. The previous week, the index dropped the most since the height of Europe’s debt crisis in May, as Japan fought to avert a nuclear disaster and tensions escalated in Libya.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average has advanced 1.8 percent since March 25. South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 3.7 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 2.5 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 2.8 percent higher.
Japanese Companies
“Even as Japan faces the unexpected effects of the huge earthquake, the U.S. economic recovery is looking clearer,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc.
“Companies are working hard at restoring their operations.” Hitachi surged 3.9 percent to 426 yen in Tokyo after spokesman Tadashi Hisanaga said on March 29 that the company will resume shipments of motors and turbines from April 3. Full production at its main factory complex in Japan will return next month, the Nikkei newspaper reported on March 30, citing the plant’s general manager Tatsuro Ishizuka.
Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker by market value, gained 7.1 percent to 729 yen after saying it expects factories to return to normal by the end of June. IHI Corp., a maker of heavy machinery, rose 4.7 percent to 202 yen after the company resumed partial operations at its No. 1 and No. 2 factories in Soma, Fukushima prefecture, where it produces aircraft parts and turbines.
Quake Aftermath
Japanese stocks gained even as a report showed the nation’s manufacturing deteriorated at the fastest pace in at least nine years in March, underscoring forecasts the economy will shrink in the aftermath of the earthquake.
“It’ll take more time for the impact of the earthquake on the economy to be clear,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $450 million in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co.
HTC, which counts America as its biggest market, climbed 7.6 percent to NT$1,140 in Taipei as a report from ADP Employer Services showed U.S. companies hired 201,000 workers in March, marking the third time in four months that the nation added more than 200,000 jobs. A Labor Department report yesterday showed the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a two-year low in March as employers created more jobs than forecast.
Bank Profit
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the nation’s biggest lender, rose 3 percent to HK$6.56 in Hong Kong. The company said full-year net income increased 28 percent from a year earlier to 165.2 billion yuan ($25.2 billion). That exceeded the 163.8 billion yuan average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. (1), Hong Kong’s No. 2 developer, jumped 3.9 percent to HK$127.20 in Hong Kong after posting full- year earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. The company said full-year net income rose 35 percent to HK$26.5 billion ($3.4 billion), compared with the average HK$20.2 billion estimate of 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. (13), the owner of ports and phone companies, gained 0.9 percent to HK$91.90. The company said full-year net income climbed 47 percent to HK$20 billion, beating the HK$16.4 billion average of nine analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
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