2013.10.0206:55:44UTC+00Asian stocks bolster as markets weighs shutdown

Asian stocks outside Japan bolstered as investors assumed economic effects would be narrowed down from the first partial U.S. government shutdown in 17 years. Japanese shares dive lower.

Samsung Electronics Co. skyrocketed 2.4 percent in Seoul after the consumer-electronics maker said third-quarter profits will progress at its mobile unit. Paladin Energy Ltd. advanced 8.3 percent in Sydney after the uranium explorer reported it is cutting costs. Nissan Motor Co., a Japanese carmaker that gets about 80 percent of its revenue outside Japan, gave up 1 percent as the yen soared.

Regional Gauges

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 0.1 percent and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.5 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index soared 0.8 percent following a public holiday yesterday. Markets are closed in China for holidays until Oct. 8. Singapore’s Straits Times Index pulled back 0.2 percent, while Taiwan’s Taiex index in a 0.3 percent uptrend.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index stepped 0.1 percent down today after the measure advanced 0.8 percent yesterday. The U.S. government started its first partial shutdown in 17 years yesterday as Republicans and Democrats remained at odds over whether to tie any changes to the 2010 Affordable Care Act to a short-term extension of government funding. As many as 800,000 federal employees were out of work, while some services were halted.

Closing down parts of the government will cost the U.S. at least $300 million a day in lost economic output at the start, according to IHS Inc., with effects increasing if a prolonged impasse dents consumer and business confidence.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 6.4 percent in September, the biggest monthly advance since January 2012. The measure exchanged at 13.5 times calculated profits as of yesterday, compared with 15.4 for the S&P 500 and 14.2 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.