March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose to the highest in more than three weeks. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. led gains among Japanese banks after the country's land prices rose for the first time in 16 years.

``The land-price report raised expectations that Japan's economy, including areas outside Tokyo, will have solid growth,'' said Naoki Fujiwara, who oversees the equivalent of $720 million at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo.

PetroChina Co. advanced after crude oil prices neared $62 a barrel. Technology shares fell after Palm Inc. reported a drop in quarterly profit and a newspaper said Benq Corp. may face claims stemming from its bankrupt German mobile-phone unit.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index climbed 0.4 percent to 146.23 at 7:47 p.m. in Tokyo, set for its highest since Feb. 27. The gauge has risen 3.5 percent in the past five days, the most since the week ended Aug. 18. It's the first weekly gain in four, since a sell-off that began on Feb. 27 wiped out about $3.3 trillion of share values worldwide.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.4 percent to 17,480.61. The index rose 4.4 percent this week, its best weekly gain since January 2006. Sony Corp. advanced after its shares were rated ``overweight'' in new coverage at Prudential Equity Group LLC.

China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index rose to a record for the second straight day, having recovered all the losses since its 9.2 percent plunge on Feb. 27 sparked the global equities rout. Markets in the region gained in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. Hong Kong was little changed.

Japan's Land Prices

Shares of Japanese companies that rely on domestic growth advanced. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, gained 1.5 percent to 1.37 million yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the second-biggest lender by assets, advanced 1.3 percent to 782,000 yen. Central Japan Railway Co., the No. 2 train operator, jumped 2.9 percent to 1.44 million yen.

Property prices rose nationwide an average 0.4 percent in the year ending Dec. 31, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in report released after markets closed yesterday. Commercial land prices climbed 2.3 percent and residential prices gained 0.1 percent.

``The report became a trigger for buying domestic demand- related shares as it raises expectations the nation's economy will expand further,'' Tsuyoshi Shimizu, who helps oversee $16 billion at Dai-Ichi Kangyo Asset Management Co. in Tokyo.

PetroChina, China's largest oil producer, climbed 1.4 percent to HK$8.78 in Hong Kong. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's No. 2 oil producer, added 0.9 percent to A$36.96. Inpex Holdings Inc., Japan's largest oil explorer, rose 1 percent to 948,000 yen.

Oil Gains

Crude oil jumped 3.5 percent to $61.69 a barrel in New York, the biggest one-day gain since Feb. 8. It was recently at $61.37 in after-hours trading.

Technology stocks were among the biggest drags on MSCI's Asia-Pacific index today. Palm, the maker of the Treo mobile phone and e-mail device, yesterday said third-quarter profit dropped 61 percent because of advertising and development spending to stem the loss of customers to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry.

Palm's earnings added to disappointing forecasts from Motorola Inc. a day earlier. The company, the world's second- biggest maker of mobile phones, said profit and sales will be ``substantially'' below its forecast this year because of plunging mobile-phone prices. Its shares tumbled 6.6 percent.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest maker of customized chips, lost 0.3 percent to NT$70. Jurong Technologies Industrial Corp., which counts Motorola among its customers, slid 3.8 percent to 76.5 Singapore cents.

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's largest electronics maker, fell 0.3 percent to 58,000 won. Deustche Bank AG cut its estimate for this year's earnings-per-share by 10 percent, citing price declines for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips.

Disappointing Earnings

``The drop in Motorola shares increased investors' concerns that profit growth at electronics parts makers will slow,'' said Shimizu at Dai-Ichi Kangyo Asset Management.

Benq, Taiwan's biggest maker of branded consumer electronics, slumped 3.9 percent to NT$12.50, a 10-year low. The company may face 500 million euros ($667 million) in claims from its German unit, which is being liquidated, according to the Taiwan Economic Daily News.

Martin Prager, the German unit's insolvency administrator, will file the claim soon to the Taiwanese parent, the report said. Benq has not received any claims so far, Jean Hsu, a company spokeswoman in Taipei, said today.

The company reported a record annual loss earlier this week after its 2005 purchase of Siemens AG's mobile-phone unit failed to raise profit or sales.

Sony, Qantas

Sony, the world's biggest maker of game consoles, rose 0.8 percent to 6,230 yen. Prudential rated the stock ``overweight'' on improving margins. The brokerage also gave Sony's American depositary shares a price target of $62, which is 17 percent higher than yesterday's closing level. Sony is releasing its PlayStation 3 console in Europe today.

Qantas, Australia's largest airline, slid 3.1 percent to HK$5.06. Balanced Equity Management, a fund which holds about 4 percent of the airline's stock, said it won't accept the buyout group's A$5.45 per share offer. Macquarie and its partners need approval from holders of 90 percent of the airline's shares for their bid to succeed.

Balanced Equity and UBS Global Asset Management together control more than 10 percent of Qantas's shares, giving them a big enough stake to block the takeover. UBS's Paul Fiani, who wasn't immediately available to comment today, wants a higher offer, the Australian Financial Review has reported.

Benq Corp. (2352 TT)
Central Japan Railway Co. (9022 JY)
Inpex Holdings Inc. (1605 JT)
Jurong Technologies Industrial Corp. (JTL SP)
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306 JT)
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411 JT)
PetroChina Co. (857 HK)
Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN AU)
Sony Corp. (6758 JT)
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930 KS)
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (2330 TT)
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL AU)

To contact the reporter on this story: Chen Shiyin in Kuala Lumpur at schen37@bloomberg.net; Makiko Suzuki in Tokyo at msuzuki13@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 23, 2007 06:49 EDT