ICICI Bank gets mention in Global Market Report

Global stocks rallied as investors said a five-day sell-off that erased $2.4 trillion in market value made shares inexpensive relative to earnings growth.

U.S. stock-index futures also climbed. U.S. Treasuries slid and the yen dropped the most against the euro in 17 months.

``Stocks have fallen a bit too much recently,'' said Choi Min Jai, who helps manage about $1.4 billion at KTB Asset Management Co. in Seoul.

Shares in Asia gained the most in almost two months, led by members of the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index, or Sensex. In Europe, Xstrata Plc lifted mining companies from a six-week low after the world's fourth-largest copper producer reported record profit.

Benchmarks in Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, the Czech Republic and South Africa all rebounded.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index added 7.52, or 0.5 percent, to 1455.09 as of 12:13 p.m. in London. The global equity gauge slumped 6.1 percent in the previous five sessions, after a plunge in Chinese equities and disappointing reports on the U.S. economy rattled investor confidence.

Shares in the MSCI World are trading at an average of 14.88 times estimated profit, below the average price-earnings ratio of 21 during the four-year bull market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

``Markets are still attractive and cheap, and in a loosening environment we can see more upside,'' said Daniel Broby, who helps manage $14 billion as chief investment officer at Baninvest in Copenhagen.

Seeing `Value'

MSCI's Asia-Pacific Index rose 1.7 percent to 140.61, the most since Jan. 12. India's Sensex jumped 2.3 percent, led by ICICI Bank Ltd. and Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rebounded 1.2 percent after losing 3.3 percent yesterday. Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second-biggest carmaker, climbed 3.5 percent to 7,720 yen. Toyota shares lost 11 percent in the previous four days.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.1 percent. Samsung Electronics Co. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. climbed after a U.S. industry group said worldwide chip sales rose in January.

``Shares will rebound because people started to see value in some companies,'' said Albert King, who oversees about $10 million in assets as chief investment officer of Prophet Capital Inc. in Taipei.

In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.8 percent to 359.46. The Stoxx 50 and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, also rose 0.8 percent.

Deutsche Bank Forecast

Deutsche Bank AG raised its prediction for the Stoxx 600 to 400 from 390 today and increased the weighting on basic- resources shares to ``overweight'' from ``neutral'' as part of allocation changes.

``The bull case for European equities remains in place and we believe that index levels have not yet seen the highs for the year,'' strategists at Germany's largest bank wrote. ``Further downside cannot be ruled out, but the correction will be less severe than last year's.''

Xstrata climbed 4.2 percent to 2,428 pence. The company reported that 2006 net income advanced to $1.95 billion on a consolidated basis from $1.71 billion a year earlier.

U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December advanced 14.5 to 1386.7 today. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 114 to 12,150. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 18.50 to 1732.25.

Shares of General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, and Home Depot Inc., the No. 1 home-improvement retailer, advanced in Europe. General Motors added 36 cents to $30.80 in France. Home Depot climbed 4 cents to $38.71 in Germany.

Emerging Markets

Stocks in developing markets also rallied. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1.8 percent to 859.08, after tumbling 10 percent since Feb. 27.

The Jakarta Composite Index climbed 2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 1.8 percent. Russia's Micex Index advanced 1.5 percent, and the Czech PX Index gained 1.5 percent. South Africa's FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index added 1.2 percent.

The U.S. stock market's worst slide in four years continued for a third day yesterday on growing concern that bank earnings growth will diminish as defaults increase.

U.S. Treasuries, which move inversely to stocks, fell for the first time in almost a week today. The rout in equities had increased demand for the safety of government debt.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 4.54 percent, according to bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The price of the 4 5/8 percent note due in February 2017 fell 12/32, or $3.75 per $1,000 face amount, to 100 11/16. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Japan's yen weakened as signs shares are stabilizing may prompt investors to increase risk and resume selling the currency to buy higher-yielding assets. The yen dropped to 152.80 per euro from 151.22 yesterday, when it touched 150.76, the highest since Nov. 24. It slid to 116.54 against the dollar, from 115.53.