May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, paced by exporters such as Toyota Motor Co. and LG.Philips LCD Co., after a four-day advance by U.S. stocks boosted optimism that demand for the region's goods will be sustained.

``Investors have been waiting for a rally in the U.S. market'' before getting back into stocks, said Koichi Ogawa, who helps oversee about $28 billion as chief fund manager at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. in Tokyo. ``There is some strength in U.S. economic activity and earnings for automakers and consumer electronics makers should improve.''

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index, which tracks more than 900 stocks, rose 0.2 percent to 97.04, its second straight advance, at 1:27 p.m. in Tokyo. Resources-related stocks such as BHP Billiton and Nippon Steel Corp. were the biggest drag on the benchmark after metals prices declined.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.1 percent to 11,089.19. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent. All other indexes in the region advanced apart from in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Indonesia's was little changed.

The MSCI benchmark has added 0.1 percent the past five days, set for its third winning week in four. The index fell as much as 6.6 percent this year amid concern rising U.S. interest rates will dent spending on products such as Toyota's cars and Nintendo's games. The U.S. is the largest market for Asian goods.

U.S. stocks rose for a fourth day, extending their biggest rally in six months. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.5 percent. A consumer-price report this week suggested the U.S. economy can maintain growth without igniting inflation.

U.S. Jobs

The Labor Department said yesterday that the number of workers filing new jobless claims last week fell by 20,000 to 321,000, evidence the labor market is strengthening. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey expected claims of 330,000.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker by value, rose 0.3 percent to 3,890 yen. Toyota gets as much as 70 percent of its operating profit from North America, according to Koji Endo, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. said they will increase production outside of Japan as they win market share in the U.S. and Europe.

Seoul-based LG.Philips LCD Co., the world's second-largest maker of liquid crystal displays, rose 800 won, or 1.6 percent, to 52,000. Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo Co., the world's biggest maker of hand-held game machines, rose 1.1 percent to 11,940. The company generated 75 percent of its revenue from abroad.

Japan's Exports

Hitachi Ltd., Japan's largest maker of electronics, advanced 0.8 percent to 633 yen. The company got almost a fifth of its sales from outside Japan in the year ended March.

Japanese exports are showing signs of improvement, the government said in a report yesterday that assessed the health of the world's second-largest economy.

Computer-related stocks also gained.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest maker of computer memory chips last year, gained 300 won, or 2.1 percent, to 14,650.

Fanuc, the world's largest maker of industrial robots, gained 0.6 percent to 6,540. The company generated more about 45 percent of its sales outside of Japan last year.

``There are a lot of companies in Asia with quite strong fundamentals,'' said Renault Kam, who helps manage $1.5 billion of stocks at Atlantis Investment Management Ltd. in Hong Kong. ``Valuations are at a historically low level. This is the one sector we are quite positive on.''

Elpida Memory Inc., the world's fifth-largest memory-chip maker, was raised to ``equal-weight/in-line'' from ``underweight/in-line'' by analyst Naoki Sato at Morgan Stanley. The company's stock gained 2.8 percent to 3,680 yen.

Copper, Nickel

Sydney-based Rinker Group Ltd., a cement maker that gets 80 percent of its profit in the U.S., climbed 2.3 percent to A$12.34. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, rose 1.4 percent to 55,100 won.

``Sentiment for the U.S. economy seems to be improving, so that should help to give stocks a lift,'' said Koichi Seki, an equity manager at Chuo Securities Co. in Tokyo.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Materials Index lost 0.3 percent, the first decline in three days. Australia's BHP, the world's largest miner, fell 1.2 percent to A$16.01. Rio Tinto Ltd., the world's third largest, lost 0.9 percent to A$42.47.

Copper futures lost 0.9 percent in New York and 0.8 percent in London. Aluminum for three-month delivery dropped 0.6 percent on the London Mercantile Exchange, while nickel slid 1.5 percent.

Nippon Steel, Japan's biggest steelmaker, lost 0.8 percent to 259 yen. Posco, Asia's third-largest steelmaker, dropped 1.1 percent to 181,500 won.

``Commodities prices have been weaker lately,'' said Jason Teh, who helps manage the equivalent of $3.8 billion at Investors Mutual Ltd. in Sydney. ``If commodity prices are weak, their profits will be low. You can't go up forever.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Darren Boey in Hong Kong at dboey@bloomberg.net; Michael Tsang in Tokyo at mtsang1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 20, 2005 00:44 EDT