SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose the most this month after the largest U.S. mortgage lender obtained new financing and Macquarie Bank Ltd. forecast record profit, easing concern global credit conditions will hurt earnings.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and National Australia Bank Ltd. paced lenders higher after Countrywide Financial Corp. lined up $12 billion of financing. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. advanced, buoyed by this week’s gains in oil and metals prices.
The easing credit outlook has helped market sentiment a lot and perhaps we have been overly pessimistic, said Leslie Phang, who helps manage $1 billion at Commonwealth Private Bank in Singapore.
“The higher oil price has been driving gains in the commodity- and energy-related companies.”
Toyota Motor Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. led gains by exporters after initial jobless claims in the U.S., the world’s biggest economy, climbed less than forecast.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index rose 1.6 percent to 152.41 at 8:03 p.m. in Tokyo, gaining the most since Aug. 31 and ending the week little changed. A measure of finance stocks contributed the most to the index’s advance yesterday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 1.9 percent to 16,127.42 while the broader Topix index added 1.4 percent. All markets open for trading climbed, except India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Sun Hun Kai Properties Ltd. advanced after reporting higher full-year profit, sending Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index to a third- straight record. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. led South Korea’s shipbuilders higher after it received $740 million in new orders.
In the U.S., the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.8 percent while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1 percent.
---------------- Macquarie, banks
Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia’s biggest securities firm, surged 6.6 percent to A$77.30, taking its gain this week to 8.3 percent. The company forecast record first-half earnings on growth in investment banking fees and funds it manages. Net income will rise “strongly” in the six months ending Sept. 30 from A$730 million ($610 million) a year earlier, the Sydney-based lender said in a statement yesterday.
Other banks in the region also rose. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s largest lender, gained 4 percent to 1.04 million yen. National Australia Bank, the country’s biggest, added 1.7 percent to A$39.24. ICICI Bank Ltd., India’s second-largest lender, gained 2.6 percent to 907.15 rupees.
Countrywide Financial, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said it has lined up $12 billion of financing, easing concern the company will default on its debt obligations and create additional turbulence in the financial markets.
--------------- Turmoil contained
“As long as the U.S. financial turmoil is contained, investors will quickly readjust and reward stocks higher valuations,” said Vickie Hsieh, who helps oversee $1.4 billion at President Investment Trust Corp. in Taipei.
“Financial stocks are attractive after they got caught in the crossfire.”
Investors fled equity markets last month after a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst said Aug. 15 that Countrywide could be forced into bankruptcy, raising concern other financial companies would face losses.
The Labor Department said initial unemployment claims in the U.S. rose by 4,000 to 319,000 last week, less than the 325,000 expected by economists in a Bloomberg survey.
------------------- Exporters gain
Toyota, Japan’s largest automaker, advanced 2.4 percent to 6,530 yen. The company will build its first car factory in Japan in 17 years to meet global demand, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on its website.
Nintendo Co., the world’s biggest maker of handheld games, added 5.5 percent to 55,400 yen, the biggest gain in three weeks. Its Wii videogame console outsold Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 for a ninth straight month. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s largest maker of custom-made chips, gained 2 percent to NT$61.80.
BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, climbed 1.9 percent to A$39.37. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan’s biggest nickel producer, rose the most in three weeks, gaining 6.8 percent to 2,420 yen. The company boosted its net income forecast for the six months ending Sept. 30 by 46 percent to 89 billion yen ($775 million).
A measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange jumped 2 percent yesterday. Copper rose 1.6 percent, nickel increased 3 percent, and zinc jumped 4 percent. Prices of Australian coal may jump 22 percent to $68 a metric ton next year, according to a report by Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty.
-------------------------- Oil stocks
Santos Ltd., Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, added 2.3 percent to A$13.80. Singapore’s Keppel Corp., the world’s largest oil-rig builder, gained 2.2 percent to S$13.70, on speculation higher oil prices will spur demand for exploration equipment.
Crude oil for October delivery closed above $80 a barrel for the first time in New York yesterday, after Hurricane Humberto forced the closure of three refineries in Texas, raising concerns fuel supplies will slow. The storm knocked out power at plants with a combined capacity of 850,000 barrels of oil a day. Crude is headed for its third-straight week of gains.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.5 percent to a new high. It gained 3.8 percent this week, the biggest advance among the region’s benchmarks.
Sun Hung Kai, the city’s No. 1 property developer by market value, jumped 1.3 percent to HK$121, taking its weekly gain to 14 percent. The company said underlying earnings in the year through June rose 9.8 percent to HK$11.5 billion ($1.5 billion) as it sold more apartments and rental income increased.
Credit Suisse Group lifted its price estimate for Sun Hung Kai to HK$103 from HK$89, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price forecast to HK$130 from HK$97.
----------------------- Developers, shipbuilders
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., Hong Kong’s second-largest developer, added 5 percent to HK$127.80. Sino Land Co., a Hong Kong-based developer, rose 4.4 percent to HK$21.55. Both stocks closed at records.
Daewoo Shipbuilding, the world’s third-largest maker of ships, gained 2.8 percent to 55,500 won. The Seoul-based company received $740 million in orders to build a drill ship and oil tanker, bringing the value of contracts won this year to 90 percent of its full-year target.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the biggest shipbuilder, added 5.6 percent to 380,000 won. Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the second largest, climbed 4.4 percent to 45,200 won.
“The market has faith in the visibility of profits at the old-economy companies,” said Eom Giyo, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.3 billion at Woori Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. in Seoul. “Steelmakers and shipbuilders are benefiting from growth in places like China.