Dec. 3 -- Asian stocks rose for a third day, led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and National Australia Bank Ltd., on speculation U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will announce an agreement with banks today to stem credit losses.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest publicly traded bank, climbed to its highest in a month and National Australia Bank advanced by the most in two weeks. Paulson, who is negotiating an agreement with banks to fix interest rates on loans to subprime borrowers, may make the announcement when he addresses a housing conference in the U.S. today.
``The worst of subprime-related trouble is mostly behind us, thanks to various efforts by U.S. officials,'' said Ryoji Musha, chief investment officer at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent to 162.28 at 10:46 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average was little changed at 15,686.81, while the broader Topix index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,536.71. All other markets open for trading rose, except China.
Japanese steelmakers climbed after the Nikkei newspaper reported Nippon Steel Corp., Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and Kobe Steel Ltd. will boost domestic production capacity.
Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest publicly traded bank, gained 1.9 percent, to 1,110 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the No. 2 lender, added 1.5 percent to 604,000 yen. Japan's banks had 1.3 trillion yen ($12 billion) in investments related to U.S. subprime mortgage markets as of Sept. 30, the nation's chief financial regulator said on Nov. 22.
`Everything We Can'
``We're moving as fast as we can move,'' Paulson told ABC News in an interview posted on its Web site on Nov. 30. ``We need to do everything we can to help get the industry ready to meet the growing number of resets that are going to be coming in the subprime mortgage market.''
National Australia, the country's biggest lender, advanced 1.7 percent to A$38.94. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the No. 2, rose 0.6 percent to A$59.98.
Nippon Steel, the world's second-largest steelmaker, gained 2.6 percent to 682 yen. Sumitomo Metal, Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, gained 2.3 percent to 499 yen. Kobe Steel, which manufactures steel plates and rods, added 1.1 percent to 367 yen.
The Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it got its information, that the three companies will spend a combined 250 billion yen to boost domestic steel-production capacity by 2012 to meet demand in Asia.
China Railway Group, the world's third-largest construction company, surged as much as 65 percent in its first day of trading in Shanghai. The shares jumped to as high as 7.94 yuan compared with the offer price of 4.80 yuan apiece.
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