Asian Stocks Advance on Gold Miners, Parmaceuticals (Bloomberg) (09-01-2008)

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) – Asian stocks closed in positive territory climbing steadily throughout the day on resource companies after surging demand drove prices of metals to records.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.9 percent to 154.47 as of 3:23 p.m. in Tokyo, erasing earlier losses of as much as 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.5 percent to 14,599.16.

Export sensitive companies fell, led by Honda Motor Co., following the sharp drop in U.S. home sales, which was perceived as affecting Asia's largest export market. National Australia Bank Ltd. paced declines among banks after Merrill Lynch & Co. said Citigroup Inc. may face additional writedowns.

Gold for immediate delivery climbed to a record $882.55 an ounce recently as a weakening dollar sparks demand for alternative assets. Platinum also climbed to a high, and copper gained in Shanghai by the exchange-imposed daily limit. Gold and copper are having their best start to the year since at least 1980, according to analysts including commodity broker Okachi & Co.'s Takaki Shigemoto.

Financials rallied strongly on bargain hunting as the market seems to have reached a level where buying is good and Mitsubishi UFJ rose by 2.65%, Chiba Kogyo advanced by 4.8%, Sumitomo gained 3.42% and Mizuho Financials remained unchanged.

Due to the rally in pharmaceuticals, the MSCI Asia-Pacific Health Care Index jumped 2.2 percent today, the biggest advance since Sept. 7. Drug stocks led gains in Europe yesterday and were the only one of 10 industry groups to rise in the S&P 500.

National Australia Bank, the country's second-biggest provider of mortgages, lost 1.2 percent to A$35.59. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank by market value, declined 0.6 percent to HK$127.50 in Hong Kong.

Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, may be forced to write down $16 billion in the fourth quarter, Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski said in a note. He almost doubled his estimate for Citigroup's loss.

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