Stocks climb in Europe, Asia

Stocks rallied in Asia and Europe as talks to bail out bond insurers and rising profits at Siemens AG helped to boosted optimism that equity markets will weather a slowdown in the United States.

The MSCI World Index added 1.9 percent to 1,423.57 at 10:49 am in London, while Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures were little changed. New York regulators are pushing financial institutions to rescue bond insurers in a plan to stave off more writedowns.

"The plan is clearly positive," said Guillaume Duchesne, a Geneva-based strategist at Fortis Private Banking, which oversees the equivalent of $117 billion.

Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 4.1 percent, heading for its biggest gain since March 2003. France's CAC 40 rallied 4.8 percent. The United Kingdom's FTSE 100 jumped 3.6 percent, and Germany's DAX advanced 5.4 percent.

Stocks extended gains in Europe after German business confidence unexpectedly increased. The Ifo research institute's business climate index rose to 103.4 in January from 103. That's higher than the 102.3 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

The risk of European companies defaulting on their debt fell yesterday, according to traders of credit-default swaps.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.7 percent, following Wednesday's 4 percent advance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 2.1 percent, and South Korea's Kospi index gained 2.1 percent.

UBS, Europe's biggest bank by assets, jumped 5.7 percent to 46.3 Swiss francs. Axa, France's largest insurer, surged 7.9 percent to 23.75 euros.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest publicly traded bank, jumped 7.5 percent to 964 yen, its biggest gain since October 2005. Millea Holdings Inc, Japan's largest insurer by market value, added 8.5 percent to 3,690 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc, the third-biggest bank, rose 5 percent to 459,000 yen.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/25/2008 page17)