Stocks: Monday’s review

Asian stocks reversed losses as shares of Chinese lenders and developers rallied after China’s new lending and money supply increased. Exporters dropped after a Federal Reserve official said the central bank probably won’t begin a new round of bond purchases.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s second-biggest maker of mobile phones by sales, decreased 2.3 percent in Seoul. HTC Corp. sank 5.2 percent in Taipei as the maker of smartphones posted its first drop in quarterly profit in two years. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. led a rally among China’s lenders and developers as the new loans and money supply data stoked speculation the government is already taking steps to ease a cash crunch.

European stocks fell as a summit between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy failed to assuage concern over the debt crisis.

UniCredit SpA tumbled as rights to buy the bank’s shares slumped in their first day of trading in Milan. GlaxoSmithKline fell 4.1 percent after saying its experimental respiratory drug Relovair failed to prove its superiority to an existing medicine in a late-stage study. Nokia Oyj fell 2.8 percent as supplier RF Micro Devices Inc. reported preliminary quarterly revenue that trailed its earlier forecast.

U.S. stocks advanced, extending last week’s rally for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as European leaders discussed shoring up the region’s currency and investors awaited the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season.

Measures of industrial, energy and financial shares had the biggest gains in the S&P 500 among 10 groups. Alcoa Inc. (AA), the largest U.S. aluminum producer, increased 2.9 percent before reporting its quarterly results. Broadcom Corp. rallied 2.5 percent as Deutsche Bank AG said soft fourth-quarter results for chipmakers create a buying opportunity for the industry.