Asian Stocks Rise for 3rd Day

Asian stocks rose for a third day after Japan reported economic growth that beat estimates and U.S. unemployment unexpectedly fell.

``Stocks will continue to climb,'' said Tom Murphy, who manages about $1 billion in Asian assets at Deutsche Bank AG in Sydney. ``The global growth theme is intact, as much in the U.S. as in Asia.''

Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. led Japanese exporters higher after the yen weakened the most in eight months against the dollar. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. paced South Korea's Kospi index to a 1.1 percent gain after UBS AG said investors should buy the stock.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index gained 0.7 percent to 143.59 at 12:17 p.m. in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.8 percent to 17,299.48. All other markets open in the region advanced, except in China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 percent on March 9, rounding out a 1.3 percent advance for the week. A government report the same day showed the U.S. jobless rate fell to 4.5 percent last month, approaching a five-year low, from January's 4.6 percent. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey estimated a rate of 4.6 percent.

Employers in the U.S. added 97,000 jobs, while average weekly earnings rose. A separate government report showed the trade deficit narrowed in January.

Data two weeks ago on new home sales and durable-goods orders had fueled concerns growth in the world's largest economy is slowing, helping to contribute to a selloff that erased about $3.3 trillion from the value of global equities. The MSCI Asia index fell from a record on Feb. 27.

`Next Leg of Rally'

``Economies globally are in strong shape and expansion looks set to continue,'' said Elan Cohen, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at JPMorgan Private Bank in Singapore, which has $350 billion in assets. ``The recent sell-off in Asian stock markets has laid the ground for the next leg of the rally.''