Stocks: Tuesday’s review

Asian stocks rose amid speculation global policy makers will join the Reserve Bank of Australia in taking steps to stimulate economic growth and after a four-day drop left the regional gauge at the cheapest level this year.

Nikkei 225 8,382 +86.37 +1.04%

S&P/ASX 200 4,043.7 +58.67 +1.47%

Shanghai Composite 2,313.22 +4.67 +0.20%

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation’s biggest lender by market value, advanced 1.9 percent as the central bank cut interest rates.

Canon Inc., a Japanese camera maker whose shares fell yesterday to the lowest level since April 2009, gained 3.4 percent on a stock buyback plan.

Qantas Airways Ltd. tumbled 19 percent in Sydney to a record low after forecasting full-year profit may plunge as much as 91 percent.

European stocks extended their advance, snapping a four-day decline, as the U.S. services industry expanded at a faster pace than estimated and investors speculated that policy makers will stimulate economic growth.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven economies agreed to coordinate their response to the euro area’s sovereign-debt crisis on a conference call.

G-7 officials said they will work together to help Greece and Spain place their public finances on a sustainable footing, Japan’s Finance Minister, Jun Azumi, told reporters in Tokyo following the call today.

A gauge of euro-area services and manufacturing output contracted in May. A composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers in both industries dropped to 46 from 46.7 in April, London-based Markit Economics said today, compared with an estimate of 45.9 published on June 1.

National benchmark indexes climbed in 13 of the 16 western European markets that opened today. Germany’s DAX fell 0.2 percent, while the Swiss Market Index was little changed. France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.1 percent.

CaixaBank added 2.6 percent to 2.17 euros and Bankinter SA rose 2.3 percent to 2.53 euros. Spain’s Budget Minister, Cristobal Montoro, said that the European Union should provide financial aid to the banks.

Telekom Austria AG surged 4.3 percent to 7.57 euros after News Magazine reported that Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, has acquired a 4.1 percent stake in the company.