MILAN (Bloomberg) -- Global stocks advanced as investors speculated a four-week sell-off may be overdone given the outlook for earnings growth, while gains in metal prices lifted mining shares. U.S. index futures increased.

CNP Assurances SA led insurers higher in Europe after Les Echos reported that Axa SA may bid for the French company. Volvo AB, the world’s second-biggest truck maker, climbed after saying sales increased. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. gained in Germany.
The MSCI World Index added 0.3 percent to 1,551.82 as of 10:50 a.m. in London. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.8 percent to 1,429. U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“There’s room for a mini rally as the correction was excessive,” said Luca Peviani, who helps manage the equivalent of about 1.4 billion dollars of hedge funds at P&G Sgr in Rome. “Waning sub-prime fears could lead to higher valuations in the short term.”
The MSCI World is still heading for its worst monthly decline since the start of the global bull market in 2002, posting a 7.8 percent retreat so far in November. Japan this week became the first of the world’s 10 biggest stock markets to enter a bear market since the summer’s U.S. sub-prime mortgage collapse.
The slump has made global stocks the cheapest relative to earnings in at least 12 years. The MSCI World is valued at 15.4 times profit, the lowest since at least February 1995, weekly data compiled by Bloomberg show.
----------------- Dollar retreats
The dollar dropped below 108 yen for the first time since 2005 and fell to a record low against the euro on speculation deepening U.S. credit-market losses will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Europe’s Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index added 1 percent to 355.37, trimming this week’s decline to 2 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.9 percent, and Germany’s DAX added 0.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.7 percent.
The benchmark dropped 4.7 percent this week, its fourth straight loss and the worst weekly performance since the five days ended Aug. 17.
CNP Assurances rallied 8.3 percent to 78.87 euros. AXA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, may bid for CNP, Les Echos reported, citing unidentified people.
There’s been no official contact between the companies and any bid is still some months away, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified person.
AXA does not comment on market rumors, spokeswoman Clara Rodrigo said. Caisse des Depots et Consignations, CNP’s biggest shareholder, said it had no plan to alter its stake.
------------- Cheap shares
“Corporate activity is returning,” said Andy Brough, executive director at Schroder Investment Management Ltd. in London, who helps oversee 6.5 billion dollars. “It’s the corporate that come up with the checks and say, ‘You know what, these shares are cheap’.”
Volvo increased 1.7 percent to 104.5 Swedish kronor after saying 10-month sales rose 2.2 percent as gains in Europe and Asia more than offset a plunge in North America.
Deliveries through the end of October climbed to 185,048 trucks from 180,968 vehicles a year earlier, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said in an emailed statement yesterday.
General Motors, the largest U.S. carmaker, gained 39 cents to 26.78 dollars in Frankfurt. Ford, the second-biggest, added 5 cents to 7.00 dollars.
-------------- Buying stocks
Antofagasta Plc., the copper producer controlled by Chile’s Luksic family, gained 5.2 percent to 672 pence. Xstrata Plc., the world’s third-largest lead producer, climbed 3.8 percent to 2,978 pence.
London Metal Exchange copper for delivery in three months was 1.4 percent higher at 6,655 dollars a ton. Nickel, lead, tin, and zinc also rose.
--------------- Anglo American, Vedanta
Anglo American Plc., the world’s second-biggest mining company, gained 5 percent to 2,952 pence. HSBC Holdings Plc. raised its recommendation on the stock to “overweight” from “neutral,” saying the stock’s recent slide triggered by concern global growth may slow is “overdone.”
The shares had slipped 23 percent from a record high on Nov. 8 through Thursday.
Vedanta Resources Plc. jumped 6 percent to 2,013 pence on speculation a Chinese company may buy a stake in India’s largest copper and zinc producer.
“Whether the Vedanta bid speculation is fact or rumor, it seems almost certain that the Chinese will be buyers of resource assets for strategic reasons over the next few years,” said Richard Scott, who helps oversee about 1 billion dollars at Iimia Investment Group in Exeter, England. “A lot of investors will be reluctant to give up on emerging markets and commodities as a key positive theme, and obviously Vedanta plays to both.”
Alex Pettifer, a Vedanta spokesman, declined to comment.
HSBC advanced 1.3 percent to 827.5 pence after Dresdner Kleinwort raised the stock to “buy” from “add.”
Losses related to the U.S. credit slump may be offset by gains in emerging markets, Dresdner analysts including Arturo De Frias wrote in a note sent to clients yesterday.