11.03.201405:44:34UTC+00Asian stocks advance, Japan shares take lead

Asian stocks rose, with a regional benchmark index ascending following the largest dip this month, topped by shares in Tokyo before the Bank of Japan regulations on monetary policy.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3% by 10:45 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan’s Topix Index advanced for the fifth time in six days. The Bank of Japan will issue a policy statement today, with economists forecasting the monetary base target will remain.

China’s central bank chief said market forces are thrusting freer interest rates and that liberalization of deposit rates will take one to two years, following credit growth data hinted shadow-banking restraints are having an impact.

The UK reports industrial production and Germany trade data are due today. Ukraine commenced army exercises despite the Crimea standoff. 

Asian Indexes

Japan’s Topix accrued 0.5%, with just four of 33 industry groups receding. The S&P/ASX 200 Index in Australia, which regards China as its largest trading partner, was slightly changed today after slipping 0.9% yesterday, when the Asia-Pacific gauge slid 1.1%, the most since February 20.

The Kospi Index in Seoul climbed less than 0.1% after dropping the most in a month yesterday. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index missed 0.4% in a second day of declines. China, the world’s biggest consumer of industrial metals, reported the largest fall in exports since 2009 in data released on March 8, while inflation slowed to a 13-month low.