Macquarie takes lead in Asian stock rally

By Chua Kong Ho  |   2008-7-24  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ASIAN stocks rose for a third day yesterday, led by banks and airlines, after Macquarie Group Ltd said it made a "solid" start to the year and oil fell to a six-week low.

Macquarie, Australia's biggest securities firm, climbed the most in almost four months, Bloomberg News reported. Korean Air Lines Co and Qantas Airways Ltd rose on expectation their fuel costs will fall.

Komatsu Ltd, the No. 2 maker of earth movers, gained after rival Caterpillar Inc raised its sales forecast.

India's Sensitive Index surged the most in three weeks after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government retained the support of parliament.

"It's now primarily a question of confidence in the financial sector and once that confidence is restored, we'll see equities bounce back," said Beat Lenherr, chief global strategist at LGT Capital Management. "Concerns over commodity prices, oil in particular, have gone away to some extent."

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.5 percent to 134.99 as of 5:11pm yesterday in Tokyo, extending a three-day, 4.5 percent rally. About five stocks gained for each that declined as most benchmark indexes rose.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1 percent to 13,312.93. Asahi Breweries Ltd, Japan's biggest brewer by sales, advanced after saying first-half profit beat its own forecast. The MSCI index has lost 14 percent this year as oil prices soared and the world's largest banks and securities firms reported more than US$467 billion of writedowns and credit losses.