WEEKLY SHANGHAI COMPOSITE

3.6% last week. In the US, sales of previously owned homes climbed in October and housing starts rose 3.6% to an 894,000 annual rate, the fastest since July 2008 and exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits the previous week, a separate report showed

Sentiment Uplift “Confidence is growing that a US budget deal can be reached, as politicians from both parties continue to make some positive comments on working together,” said Stan Shamu, a Melbourne-based strategist at IG Markets, a provider of trading services for equities, currencies and commodities. “Better- thanexpected existing home sales data has also helped to lift sentiment.”

Li & Fung gained 2.8% to HK$12.40 this week in Hong Kong, while Man Wah Holdings Ltd, a sofa-maker that gets about half of its revenue from the US, rose 8.3% to HK$5.86. Billabong International Ltd, a surf-wear maker that counts Americas as its biggest market, surged 27% to 94 Australian cents in Sydney after saying the head of its biggest unit is examining a potential buyout of the company.

Samsung Electronics, the biggest maker of smartphones, jumped 10% to 1,437,000 won in Seoul after Fitch Ratings cut Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp to junk, improving the chances of the world’s biggest maker of TVs to extend its dominance. The gain boosted Samsung to 15th on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market value.

Toyota, Nissan Japanese automakers advanced as they participated in their first major car show in China since large-scale, anti-Japan protests broke out in September over a territorial dispute. Toyota gained 5.7% to ¥3,515 after Hiroji Onishi, its senior managing officer, said at the Guangzhou auto show the company will introduce 20 new models to China in the next three years. Nissan Motor Co jumped 6.8% to ¥788 after saying it plans to expand in smaller Chinese cities with its Venucia brand. Honda Motor Co rose 6.1% to ¥2,750.

China’s passenger-vehicle sales will expand by an average 8% a year to reach 22 million in 2020, driven by demand for sport-utility vehicles and rising incomes in smaller cities, according to McKinsey & Co. – Bloomberg