Asian stocks rallied this week as benchmarks in Japan and South Korea gained for the fifth week in a row, their longest winning streaks in more than a year.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced for an eighth week, its longest string of weekly gains in 3 1/2 years, while Taiwan's TWSE Index rallied for a seventh week.
Exporters such as Nissan Motor Co, Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co advanced after US economic reports earlier this week showed an increase in New York factory production, a rise in industrial output and a jump in US consumer prices.
"Exporters are certainly a better investment, as we see gradual signs of a recovery in the US," said Koichi Ogawa, who manages the equivalent of US$8.6 billion in Japanese equities as chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd.
For the week, the Topix index gained 2 percent, rounding out its longest winning streak since the seven-week period ended July 16, 1999. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.6 percent. Korea's Kospi index rose 3.2 percent, completing its longest rally since its six-week advance ended last March.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.8 percent, up for an eighth week. It was the index's longest rally since December 1999. Taiwan's TWSE index had its longest winning streak in more than three years.
The index advanced 2.5 percent, its seventh week of gains.
Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker and an affiliate of French carmaker Renault SA, advanced 11 percent this week to ?1,105. Nissan had its biggest weekly gain since October after saying it will spend as much as ?53 billion (US$448 million) buying back up to 40 million shares between June 20 and Sept. 30.
Toyota Motor Corp, which derives about 82 percent of operating profit from North America, rose 2.6 percent to ?3,160. It advanced for a fifth week.
"The rally in Japan is only going to be sustained should US markets fair well," said Jun Terasaka, who helps manage US$171 million at Toyota Asset Management Co.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's manufacturing index rose to 26.8 in June, higher than the 10.1 economists expected in a Bloomberg News survey.
Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of computer-memory chips, added 3.9 percent to 364,000 won this week. The company gets about a fifth of its total sales in the US.
Micron Technology Inc said demand from Asia has improved in the past several weeks and chip prices are on "an upward trend."
Arnab Chanda, a Lehman Brothers analyst, raised his rating for telecommunications chipmakers in the US to "equalweight" from "underweight."
Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the world's third-largest maker of computer-memory chips, surged 13 percent to 6,320 won this week.
Still, Hynix shares tumbled by their 15 percent daily limit Thursday, after the US said it may levy duties of as high as 45 percent on the company.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index on Tuesday surpassed 10,000 for the first time in six months as optimism about the US economy spurred gains. The US is the nation's second-largest export market after China.
HSBC Holdings Plc, which has 400 branches in the US, rose 0.8 percent to HK$96. Li & Fung Ltd, which buys garments for US companies, added 3.5 percent this week to HK$10.50.
Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's No. 1 supplier of made-to-order semiconductors, was the biggest contributor to the rally by Taiwan's benchmark. Taiwan Semiconductor gained 2.6 percent this week to NT$58.50 after saying it hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Merrill Lynch & Co to arrange a sale of US$956 million of American depositary receipts.
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