Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks gained, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index higher for a fourth day, after a bigger- than-estimated increase in Japan’s machinery orders, while China’s industrial production and retail sales accelerated.

Kubota Corp., Asia’s largest maker of tractors, increased 4.1 percent as orders for Japanese machinery rose 10.5 percent in September. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japan’s largest fixed-line phone operator, gained 4.5 percent as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended investors buy the stock. HSBC Holdings Plc jumped 6 percent in Hong Kong after saying third- quarter profit was ahead of expectations.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.7 percent to 118.85 as of 7:52 p.m. in Tokyo, extending its four-day increase to 3.6 percent. That’s the longest winning streak in a month. The gauge has surged 68 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9 on signs stimulus policies around the world are helping to revive the global economy.

“Asian economies are set to recover ahead of other regions,” said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd., which manages the equivalent of $38 billion. “That’s the reason why exports and industrial production are improving so quickly. Next year, growth will be led by Asian economies.”

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.6 percent as the Chinese statistics bureau reported that industrial production jumped 16.1 percent from a year earlier and retail sales gained 16.2 percent. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China’s largest chipmaker, soared 74 percent on speculation a new chief executive officer will help boost profits.

China Merchants Bank

China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1 percent, as a slowdown in the nation’s lending growth dragged banks and developers lower. China Merchants Bank Co. lost 2.1 percent on concern tighter credit will hurt profit.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index and South Korea’s Kospi Index both gained 0.5 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed little changed. Daikin Industries Ltd., the world’s second- biggest air-conditioner maker, jumped 2.5 percent after lifting its profit forecast.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.7 percent. The gauge was little changed yesterday as Earnings from bond guarantor MBIA Inc., engineering company Fluor Corp. and the video-game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. disappointed investors, while American Express Co. and Bank of America Corp. rallied.

In Tokyo, Kubota climbed 4.1 percent to 790 yen. Mori Seiki Co., a maker of precision lathes, gained 0.3 percent to 907 yen. September’s 10.5 percent increase for the country’s machinery orders, an indicator of business investment in three to six months, beat economist predictions for a 4.1 percent increase.

Pioneer Upgrade

“The bottom is probably behind us for capital spending,” said Masamichi Adachi, a senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo. “The retrenchment phase is over and the corporate sector as a whole should gradually pick up in a self-sustained way.”

Pioneer Corp. surged 8.8 percent to 272 yen after the maker of car-navigation systems was raised to “buy” from “underperform” at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit.

NTT climbed 4.5 percent to 3,750 yen after it was added to Goldman’s “conviction buy list.” The brokerage upgraded NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator, to “buy” from “neutral,” citing valuations. DoCoMo added 1.4 percent to 130,000 yen.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s rally since March has driven the average price of the gauge’s companies to 22 times estimated earnings, compared with 17 times for the S&P 500 and 15 times for the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index. On that basis, the MSCI index’s valuation has about doubled in the past year.

Better Than Expected

The MSCI gauge has gained 33 percent this year, more than the MSCI World Index’s 26 percent advance. The International Monetary Fund last month raised its global growth forecast for 2010 to 3.1 percent from 2.5 percent as stimulus packages and demand in Asia pull the world economy out of its worst slowdown since World War II.

“Most of the markets have done better than what we expected,” Sandy Flockhart, HSBC’s Asia Pacific chief executive officer, told Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong today. “Our businesses in Asia, Middle East and Latin America have performed well while the impairment situation in the U.S. is getting better.”

HSBC rose 6 percent to HK$94. The bank’s London-listed shares closed 4 percent higher yesterday after the company announced its third-quarter profit.

CEO Resignation

Semiconductor Manufacturing soared 74 percent to 66 Hong Kong cents after the company named a new chief executive officer to replace founder Richard Chang, who oversaw two straight years of losses at the chipmaker. Chang resigned and will be replaced David Wang, 63, a director at Solar Fun Power Holdings Co., Semiconductor Manufacturing said yesterday.

In Shanghai, China Merchants Bank fell 2.1 percent to 18.29 yuan, while Huaxia Bank Co., partly owned by Deutsche Bank AG, lost 1.2 percent to 11.59 yuan.

Domestic banks extended 253 billion yuan ($37 billion) of new local-currency loans in October, the People’s Bank of China said. That compares with 516.7 billion yuan in September and a median projection of 370 billion yuan in a Bloomberg News survey.

Daikin rose 2.5 percent to 3,250 yen after raising its full-year forecast for net income, saying it sees signs of a recovery in demand in China.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 11, 2009 05:54 EST