June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks gained for the first time in three days after Japan raised its first-quarter growth estimate for the region's biggest economy.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's largest bank, climbed on expectations stronger growth will boost profits for domestic businesses. Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. rose after a decline in U.S. bond yields damped speculation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in Asia's largest export market.
The forecast ``will relieve people's cautiousness toward the Japanese economy,'' said Soichiro Monji, who helps oversee about $47 billion at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. in Tokyo. ``Stronger private consumption should favor the banking stocks.''
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index climbed 0.3 percent to 150.90 at 7:16 p.m. in Tokyo, as eight of the measure's 10 industry groups gained. Stocks fell last week on concern rising global interest rates will curb consumer spending and corporate profits.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.3 percent to 17,834.48. Shares also gained after the yen weakened the most in six weeks against the dollar on June 8, increasing the value of exporters' dollar-denominated sales.
China's CSI 300 Index advanced for a fifth day after an unexpected slowdown in producer-price inflation helped damp speculation interest rates will increase. Taiwanese stocks rose after Citigroup Inc. raised its forecast for the Taiex index.
Benchmarks climbed elsewhere in the region, except in South Korea. Australia and the Philippines were closed for holidays.
Improving Sentiment
U.S. stocks rebounded on June 8, ending a three-day slump, after bond yields fell from the highest in five years and oil prices declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.1 percent, the best one-day gain since March 21.
Mitsubishi UFJ rose 0.7 percent to 1.4 million yen. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the world's largest phone operator, added 1.5 percent to 548,000 yen.
Japan's gross domestic product rose at a 3.3 percent annualized rate in the three months ended in March, the Cabinet Office said. That exceeded the median forecast of 3.2 percent growth by 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The government's original estimate was for 2.4 percent growth.
``The revised GDP figure will improve investor sentiment even though many people had already expected the better numbers,'' said Seiichi Suzuki, a strategist at Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``Growth is still being supported by capital spending, so companies linked to overseas demand and large domestic shares such as banks are attracting some buying.''
Rebound
Sony, the maker of the PlayStation game console and Vaio computer, added 0.8 percent to 6,640 yen, after losing 5 percent last week. Overseas sales accounted for 70 percent of Sony's income last year.
Shares plunged early last week after 10-year U.S. bond yields breached 5 percent for the first time since August. The yield fell on June 8 by almost 2 basis points, or 0.02 percent, before rebounding 3 basis points to 5.13 percent as of 10.42 a.m. in London, according to bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP.
Samsung, South Korea's largest exporter, rose 1.1 percent to 578,000 won. Venture Corp., Singapore's biggest publicly traded electronics maker for customers including Hewlett-Packard Co., gained 3.3 percent to S$15.90.
Yen
Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker by market value, climbed 0.9 percent to 7,540 yen. The company made 63 percent of its sales outside Japan last business year.
The yen fell 0.6 percent to 121.73 against the dollar on June 8 in New York, the biggest drop since April 26. A weaker yen increases the value of Japanese exporters' dollar-denominated sales when converted into local currency, while their products become more competitive abroad. Japan's currency recently changed hands at 121.68 to the dollar.
China's CSI 300 rose 2.5 percent, capping its longest rally since a similar period ended April 26. Producer prices gained 2.8 percent in May from a year earlier, after climbing 2.9 percent in April, the statistics bureau said today. Economists expected a 3 percent increase, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
The yield on the benchmark three-year Chinese government bond fell 1 basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 3.25 percent, according to the China interbank bond market.
Reducing Expectations
The slower pace of producer-price rises ``helped reduce expectations of an interest rate hike,'' said Fan Hongyu, an investment manager at China Jianyin Investment Securities Co. in Shanghai. ``That will help keep funds flowing into the market.''
GD Midea Electric Appliances Co., China's biggest publicly traded appliance maker by sales, jumped by the 10 percent daily limit to 30.86 yuan. Wuliangye Yibin Co., its biggest sprits maker, climbed 5.1 percent to 32.80 yuan.
In Taiwan, the Taiex climbed 0.5 percent to 8338.88 after Citigroup raised its 12-month estimate for the index by 13 percent to 9550, saying earnings are improving and gains in other markets in the region have made the island's stocks relatively cheap.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Taiwan's largest contract electronics maker, added 0.6 percent to NT$256.50. United Microelectronics Corp., the world's second-largest customized chipmaker, gained 1.5 percent to NT$20.
Hon Hai also gained after it said on June 8 its sales increased 48 percent to NT$85.1 billion ($2.6 billion) in May from a year earlier.
Doosan Heavy
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., South Korea's No. 1 maker of power equipment, dropped 9.9 percent to 82,100 won, its biggest slide since May 2004. The stock was rated ``sell'' in new coverage at Goldman, Sachs & Co., which has a 12-month share- price forecast of 70,500 won.
``We are hard pressed to justify current valuations,'' wrote Rajeev Das, a Seoul-based analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd., a bulk carrier and ship-repair unit of China's biggest shipping company, surged 13 percent to S$3.38, a record. The stock posted the biggest advance on the MSCI index.
The company received contracts including $525 million of orders for 14 bulk carriers from shipowners in Turkey, India, Portugal and Greece. Cosco Singapore also received an order valued at $669 million from Cosco International Ship Trading Co. for 12 bulk carriers and four vessels that can move cars.
China Unicom
Meanwhile, China Unicom Ltd., the smaller of China's two mobile-phone carriers, jumped 5.8 percent to HK$11.70 on speculation the company will sell units to its rivals.
The Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which oversees state-owned Chinese companies, approved a plan for China Unicom to sell units to China Telecom Corp. and China Netcom Corp. (Hong Kong) Ltd., the South China Morning Post said on June 9, citing a June 7 report in the Shanghai Securities News that quoted unidentified sources.
``We've seen money flowing back into telecom stocks recently,'' said Ben Kwong, head of research at KGI Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. ``The market is speculating that a restructuring of the telecom sector will accelerate in the second half of this year.''
China Telecom, the larger of the nation's fixed-line phone companies, added 2.3 percent to HK$4.55. China Netcom, the smaller, gained 2.8 percent to HK$20.45.
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