Asian Stocks tend to rise in South Korea

Asian stocks rose for a ninth day, giving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index its longest winning streak since 2004, as sales of existing U.S. homes climbed and South Korea’s economy grew at the fastest pace in almost six years.

Rio Tinto Group gained 2 percent in Sydney as commodity prices rallied yesterday. Murchison Metals Ltd. surged 13 percent after saying Chinese groups are interested in helping develop an iron-ore project. Toyota Motor Corp., which gets more than a half its profit from North America, rose 1.9 percent as the yen depreciated against the dollar. Samsung Electro- Mechanics Co., a South Korean electronic-parts maker, advanced 1.8 percent after a brokerage raised its share-price target.

“Global market sentiment continues to rise,” said Ben Potter, an analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne. “The collapse of the housing market started this whole crisis and its recovery is certainly needed for any sustained economic improvement.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.7 percent to 107.78 as of 10:09 a.m. in Tokyo, with five stocks advancing for each one that declined. The gauge has gained 9.9 percent in the past nine days, the longest winning streak since August 2004.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dipped 1.1 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 1.6 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index added 0.5 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.4 percent. The gauge climbed 2.3 percent yesterday, as EBay Inc. and Ford Motor Co. posted better-than-estimated results. Sales of existing U.S. homes advanced 3.6 percent last month from May, surpassing the 1.5 percent gain estimated by economists.

The increased sales fanned speculation demand for resources will recover, lifting prices for metals and oil. A gauge of six metals in London rose for a ninth day, the longest winning streak since December 2005. Crude oil in New York jumped 2.7 percent yesterday to a level not seen in three weeks.

South Korea’s gross domestic product rose 2.3 percent from the first quarter, when the nation skirted a recession by growing 0.1 percent, the central bank said today in Seoul.

That compared with the median estimate of 2.2 percent in a Bloomberg survey and was the fastest since a 2.6 percent expansion in the last quarter of 2003. From a year earlier, GDP shrank 2.5 percent.