Asian Stocks Advance, Led by Toyota and Honda on Weaker Yen

Asian stocks climbed for a second day, led by Japanese exporters after the yen extended a slide against the dollar and euro. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. gained

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European Stocks Rise on Takeover Outlook; ABN Amro Paces Gain

European stocks rebounded from last week's losses on speculation ABN Amro Holding NV will be acquired and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc will raise its bid for Altadis SA.

ABN Amro surged to a record after a person familiar with the situation said Barclays Plc is in talks about buying the largest Dutch bank. Altadis jumped, leading tobacco stocks higher. TUI AG, Europe's largest tour company, had the biggest gain in more than three years on plans to buy First Choice Holidays Plc.

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Canadian Stocks Rally on Takeover, Interest Rate Speculation

Canadian stocks had their biggest gain in almost two months, led by resource and financial companies, on speculation a sell-off last week was overdone, given commodity prices and continuing takeovers.

EnCana Corp., Alcan Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp. paced gains. Stocks were also helped by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs unchanged this week, and may even signal interest rate cuts.

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U.S. Stocks Rise on Takeovers for 2nd Biggest Gain of the Year

U.S. stocks had their second- biggest gain of the year, helped by $17 billion in takeovers and speculation that lower borrowing costs will keep the pace of buyouts at a record.

ServiceMaster Co. surged to the highest since 2002 as the nation's largest provider of lawn-care and landscaping services agreed to be taken private. Community Health Systems Inc. said it will buy Triad Hospital Inc. for $5.1 billion. TXU Corp., target of the biggest leveraged buyout earlier this month, rose on speculation it may get a better bid.

Options traders are starting to bet policy makers will lower interest rates to counter the effects of falling real- estate prices and fuel more acquisitions as the year progresses. Federal Reserve policy makers meet this week to decide on borrowing costs.

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Asia shares up as risk appetite returns, yen soft

Tokyo's Nikkei average rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday, as exporters such as Kyocera Corp. benefited from a weaker yen, and other Asian markets gained as some risk appetite returned to world markets.

Oil prices rose, extending a rally begun on Monday as gasoline soared ahead of the peak U.S. summer driving season.

Gold strengthened from levels in New York, where it gained more than $1 an ounce, as confidence returned to the market after the precious metal breached a key resistance of $650 last week.

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Return of investors triggers gold price advance

Gold rose to its highest in more than a week on Monday, driven by speculative buying and a return of investor confidence after the recent sell-off.

Silver and platinum hit two-week peaks, while palladium prices climbed to their highest since March 9.

Spot gold rose as high as $656.25 an ounce and was quoted at $654.70/655.45 by 1506 GMT, against $651.90/652.90 in New York late on Friday.

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Rand gains on dollar, remains under pressure

South Africa's rand clawed back some losses against the dollar on Monday, boosted by strength on global stock markets and higher metals prices, but was seen remaining under pressure ahead of key data this week.

The domestic currency was weak against the euro, the currency of its main trading partner, and not far off a 4-1/2 month low against the greenback despite paring back some of its recent losses.

The unit was trading at 7.4361 to the dollar at 1515 GMT, 0.5 percent stronger than its previous New York close of 7.4775 after bouncing between 7.5120 and 7.41 during the day.
It was at 9.8850 against the euro, just off a 5-1/2 month trough touched on Friday.

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