Asian shares climbed to their highest level in five-and-a-half years after US consumer confidence rose and oil dropped below US$60 a barrel. Exporters such as Kyocera Corp and LG Electronics Inc led gains.
"Consumer demand in the US for exporters' goods still looks good and that should bode well for their shares," said Kim Hyun-tae, who helps manage about US$500 million at Landmark Asset Management Co in Seoul.
"Technology companies' shares and most consumer-goods makers look attractive," he said.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 1 percent to 118.68 as of 5:38pm in Tokyo, set for the highest close since May 5, 2000. Japanese banks climbed after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on Mizuho Financial Group Inc.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 2.2 percent to 15,738.70, its biggest gain since Oct. 11. The Topix index added 1.7 percent. Japanese stocks advanced on expectations that the Bank of Japan's tankan business-confidence survey will signal sustained economic growth.
South Korea's Kospi index gained 1.2 percent to break a record.
Indexes rose around the region, except in Malaysia. The Thai market is closed for a national holiday.
Kyocera, the world's largest maker of ceramic chip packages, advanced 0.8 percent to ?8,370. LG Electronics, which generated 79 percent of its revenue from overseas last year, rose 2.6 percent to 86,200 won in South Korea.
The University of Michigan's preliminary index of sentiment climbed to 88.7 this month from 81.6 last month and a 13-year low in October. The two-month increase in consumer confidence was the largest in more than two years.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.3 percent last Friday after the report's release.
"The economic indicators from the US continue to support robust growth," said Sung Jin-kyung, a mar-ket analyst at Daishin Securities Co in Seoul.
A drop in crude oil prices in New York helped ease concern that higher fuel costs will curb consumer spending in the US, the world's biggest buyer of oil. Crude oil dropped 2.1 percent to US$59.39 a barrel on signs that supplies will be adequate to meet demand over the next several months.
Venture, Rinker Singapore's Venture Corp, which provides manufacturing services to customers including Hewlett-Packard Co, rose 1.4 percent to S$14.10. Rinker Group Ltd, Australia's biggest building materials maker, rose 0.7 percent to A$16.06. The company gets 80 percent of its profit in the US.
HSBC Holdings Plc, a London-based lender that owns two of Hong Kong's biggest banks, rose 0.5 percent to HK$124.70. The lender made more than a third of its sales last year in North America.
The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey may show that confidence among the nation's largest manufacturers rose to 23 in the third quarter, the highest level in a year, stoked by sustained growth in the world's second-largest economy, rising stock prices and exports, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
"The tankan will be just one more piece of evidence that Japan's growth is intact," said Shigeharu Shiraishi, who helps manage about US$14 billion in assets at Societe Generale Asset Management (Japan) Co in Tokyo.
"Money is flowing in all directions and that suggests that there is still money waiting to be poured into stocks," he said.
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