SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed this week after record customer growth boosted profit at China Mobile Ltd. and Sony Corp. reported earnings that topped analyst estimates.

China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless-phone carrier by users, climbed to a record, and Sony, the second-biggest maker of consumer electronics, had its best week in two months. Posco led South Korea’s Kospi index higher after a report showed the economy grew in the third quarter and billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the nation’s shares are attractive.
“Most of the results are pretty good and this is a reflection of the strong Asian economies,” said Teng Ngiek Lian, who manages $3 billion at Target Asset Management in Singapore. “I’m pretty happy.”
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 1.4 percent to 168.06 this week. India’s benchmark led gains in the region. Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Pakistan were the only decliners.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. dropped, sending Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average to its second straight weekly loss, after the Asahi newspaper said the lender will book a charge from sub-prime loan losses. China’s CSI 300 Index plunged the most since June after the economy expanded more than 11 percent for a third straight quarter, fueling concern-borrowing costs will rise.
China Mobile gained 4.3 percent to HK$154.2 in Hong Kong after third-quarter profit rose 38 percent from a year earlier to 22 billion yuan ($2.9 billion). Sony added 4.5 percent to 5,560 yen, the most since the five days ended Aug. 24. The Tokyo-based company said profit rose to 73.7 billion yen ($645 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from 1.7 billion yen a year earlier.
----------------------- Driven by earnings
Honda Motor Corp., Japan’s No. 2 carmaker, jumped 5.5 percent to 4,040 yen. The company said earnings last quarter climbed 63 percent to 208.5 billion yen. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, climbed 1.9 percent to 66,200 won after reporting a 45 percent increase in third-quarter profit to 425.5 billion won ($464 million).
South Korea’s economy expanded 1.4 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, the Bank of Korea said. It grew 5.2 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2006, amid increased consumer spending.
South Korean shares may outperform global equities in the next decade, Buffett, 77, said on Oct. 25 in Daegu, South Korea. He added that he didn’t see a bubble in the country’s equities.
Posco, Asia’s No. 1 steelmaker by market value, rose 8.9 percent to 658,000 won. Buffett’s Omaha-Nebraska based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. holds 4 percent of Posco, filings show.
“The Korean economy is doing pretty well, helped in part by stronger consumer spending,” said Shane Oliver, who helps manage $83 billion at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney.
----------------------------- ‘Sugar-coated’
Mizuho, Japan’s second-largest publicly traded bank, slid 1.8 percent to 605,000 yen, its third consecutive weekly decline, after the Asahi newspaper said the lender will book a 50 billion yen ($438 million) charge for the first half to reflect a loss related to U.S. sub-prime loans. The bank won’t miss its first-half profit forecast because the charge will be offset by gains in other divisions, the report said. Masako Shiono, a Mizuho spokeswoman, called the report “speculative.”
Stocks also fell after Merrill Lynch & Co. reported a record quarterly loss of $2.24 billion following write-downs of $8.4 billion and as U.S. existing home sales plunged, adding to concern that credit market losses will spread.
“We might start to see financials coming clean now about how much they’ve really lost on the sub-prime mess,” said Koichi Takatsuka, who helps oversee $1 billion at UAM Japan Inc. in Tokyo. “So far, a lot of the quarterly earnings have been sugar-coated, so the market has still not been able to accurately discount for the impact on stocks.”
----------------------- Higher rates?
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China’s biggest steelmaker, fell 6.4 percent to 17.86 yuan. China’s gross domestic product rose 11.5 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said on Oct. 25. Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said last week that steeper or more frequent interest-rate increases are possible and expressed concern at rising asset prices.
The central bank has raised interest rates five times this year, pushing the benchmark one-year lending rate to a nine-year high of 7.29 percent. Higher interest rates damp corporate earnings by raising companies' borrowing costs.
“This reinforces the market’s belief that interest rates will be raised soon,” said Tony Zheng, who manages the equivalent of $790 million at Bank of Communications Schroders Fund Management Co. in Shanghai. “Stocks are hurting because the tightening may slow corporate earnings growth.”
India’s Sensitive Index surged 9.6 percent, its biggest gain in 6 1/2 years, after the market regulator scaled back a proposed ban on registered brokers using offshore derivatives to buy stocks, scaling back planned rules that sparked a one-minute, $120 billion sell-off in equities last week.
Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s largest company by market value, jumped 9 percent to 2692.25 rupees. ICICI Bank Ltd., the second-biggest bank, gained 15.7 percent to 1184.45 rupees.