UK auto sales Stocks in Europe, Asia Climb; Barclays, ThyssenKrupp Advance

Stocks in Europe and Asia advanced, trimming their weekly decline, on speculation that governments will expand efforts to revive the economy and rescue banks. U.S. index futures fluctuated between gains and losses.
Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s third-biggest bank, and ING Groep NV gained more than 2 percent amid speculation the White House will help mortgage borrowers. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. jumped 9 percent in Sydney as the country’s senate passed a $28 billion stimulus package. ThyssenKrupp AG rallied 3.6 percent after Germany’s largest steelmaker posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.
The MSCI World Index climbed for the first time in four days, adding 0.8 percent to 844.61 at 8:18 a.m. in London. The gauge of 23 developed markets has lost 3 percent this week as companies from Electricite de France SA to Diageo Plc posted disappointing results and some investors speculated U.S. measures won’t pull the global economy out of a recession.
“The market is very focused on the stimulus plans and we are waiting for details,” Pierre-Yves Gauthier, founding partner of Alphavalue SAS in Paris, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Governments have taken charge of the situation. They are taking steps, even if it takes time for the measures to take effect.”
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.1 percent. The benchmark for U.S. equities yesterday recovered from a 3.1 percent tumble in the final hour of trading as banks recouped losses.

Asia, Europe
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose for the first time in five days, adding 1.1 percent. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index gained 1.4 percent as all 19 industry groups advanced.
The Stoxx 600 is still down 2.7 percent this week, poised for its first weekly loss since Jan. 23. The gauge had rallied 4.3 percent in the first six days of February on optimism that global stimulus packages, a financial-rescue plan from Barack Obama’s administration and interest-rate cuts would help lift the U.S., Europe and Japan out of recessions.
The Obama administration’s housing plan will use government money to help reduce interest rates for struggling borrowers, while asking lawmakers to approve more ways to modify mortgages, according to a person briefed on the proposal. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner intends to make the plan public in coming days, possibly within a week, said the person, who declined to be identified before the announcement.
“This would clearly have the ability to reduce bad debt so the banks rallied hard” in the U.S., Matthew Buckland, a dealer at CMC Markets in London, wrote. “European markets will therefore follow.”

Barclays, ING
Barclays increased 3.5 percent to 108.7 pence while ING, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, added 2.1 percent to 5.99 euros.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group jumped 9 percent to A$12.96 in Sydney. Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s largest investment bank, added 2.9 percent to A$24.08.
The country’s Senate approved in a second vote a A$42 billion ($28 billion) stimulus package aimed at ensuring the economy doesn’t enter its first recession in 18 years. ThyssenKrupp added 3.6 percent to 18.09 euros. The steelmaker said first-quarter profit slumped 59 percent to 168 million euros ($215.5 million) as demand dropped at the quickest pace since World War II and it wrote down the value of inventories. That beat the 135 million-euro median of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell 6.1 percent to 11.5 billion euros.
STMicroelectronics NV climbed 4 percent to 4.35 euros. Europe’s biggest semiconductor maker was raised to “neutral” from “sell” at UBS AG. The bank lifted its recommendation on European semiconductor shares and technology hardware shares to “overweight,” saying valuations are attractive.

Valeo Earnings
Valeo SA slipped 1.2 percent to 10.28 euros. France’s second-largest auto-parts maker said it posted a loss in the fourth quarter, as customers including PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA slashed production amid a global auto-sales slump.
The net loss was 313 million euros ($404 million), compared with net income of 50 million euros a year earlier, the company said. Analysts had anticipated a 317 million-euro loss, based on the median of four estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
London Stock Exchange Group Plc gained 4 percent to 489 pence. The company named Xavier Rolet to succeed Clara Furse as chief executive officer, bringing an end to her eight-year reign at Europe’s oldest independent bourse.

Under Furse, LSE’s first female CEO, the bourse fought off five takeover offers in two years and bought the operator of the Milan stock exchange in 2007. While LSE has remained independent, rivals including Euronext NV, Deutsche Boerse AG and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. have forged alliances, adding to the range of products they offer and giving them greater size. LSE’s shares lost 74 percent last year on concern falling stock prices and competition from electronic exchanges will erode earnings.

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