WEEKLY HANG SENG

ASIAN stocks rose last week by the most in two months as US jobs and home data and China’s preliminary manufacturing report showed signs the world’s two largest economies are recovering.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 2.5% to 122.87 last week, its steepest weekly gain since the period ended Sept 14. The gauge has gained almost 13% from this year’s low on June 4 as central banks from Europe, the US, Japan and China took steps to support economic growth.

Stocks on Asia’s benchmark index were valued at about 13.8 times estimated earnings on average, compared with about 13.6 times for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 12.4 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 3.8% in a holiday-shortened week. The gauge has surged 8.1% since Nov 14 when Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda called for elections that polls show the opposition Liberal Democratic Party will win. The Bank of Japan held off from more monetary easing on Nov 20 after expanding asset purchases in September and October.

Taiwan, Korea Taiwan’s Taiex Index increased 2.8%, erasing a weekly decline on Nov 23 as the island’s finance minister said government-invested funds and banks should be buying stocks.

South Korea’s Kospi Index gained 2.7%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.5%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 1.8%. The Reserve Bank of Australia said more interest-rate reductions may be appropriate to spur economic growth as the nation’s mining boom wanes, minutes of its Nov 6 policy meeting showed last week.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in the city rose 3.6%. China’s manufacturing may expand for the first time in 13 months in November, according to a preliminary survey released on Nov 22 by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics.

Shanghai, US The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.6% last week, underperforming other indexes in the region as waning speculation of lower bank reserve requirements overshadowed the positive manufacturing data.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced