Asian Stocks Gain as U.S. Jobless Claims Drop Before BOJ

Bloomberg, (15/3) -- Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index poised to advance for a fourth week, after U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly dropped and as Japan’s upper house prepares to vote on Haruhiko Kuroda’s nomination as central bank governor. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.5 percent to 136 as of 9:35 a.m. Tokyo time, before markets in China and Hong Kong open. The gauge is heading for a 0.3 percent advance this week as a faster-than-expected increase in U.S. retail sales and a decline in weekly jobless claims added to signs the world’s biggest economy is recovering. “Growing optimism about the U.S. economy pushes markets up, even though concerns about China continue to linger.” said Matthew Sherwood, head of investment markets research in Sydney at Perpetual Investments, which manages about $25 billion. This week’s gain in the Asian benchmark has been limited by data that showed China’s consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in 10 months and People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan saying monetary policy is “no longer relaxed.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/asian-stocks-gain-as-u-s-jobless-claims-drop-before-boj.html