2013.07.1105:55:22UTC+00Asian stocks boost after Bernanke's comments

Asian stocks advanced Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced U.S. interest rates will remain low to support economic recovery, with oil producers and gold miners displaying strong gains on an increase in commodity prices.

South Korea’s Kospi spiked 2% after the Bank of Korea left its policy interest rate unaltered, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 1%.

In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also uptrend 2%, while the Shanghai Composite Index boosted 1.3%, building on its 2.2% climb Wednesday.

The performance tracked an increase in U.S. equity index futures after Bernanke’s comments, while the ICE dollar index plunged.

“The reactions of the market are fairly intense to small Fed nuances, an indication of some fundamental instability or great uncertainty in the market,” said Société Générale currency strategist Sebastien Galy.

“’Helicopter Ben’ is generally good for equities and bad for the U.S. dollar, so we have a good idea of the short-term reaction until we hit another bout of very decent U.S. data,” Galy said.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average missed 0.2% in rough trade ahead of a financial-policy decision due later Thursday.

Resource stocks displayed solid gains after commodity prices rallied overnight.

Among the region’s oil producers, Inpex Corp. soared 2.1% in Tokyo, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. increased with 1.3% in Sydney, and Cnooc Ltd. leapt 3.4% in Hong Kong.

The gains came as U.S. benchmark crude-oil futures stayed above $106 a barrel, after settling at their topmost level in 15 months.

Gold miners were particularly strong after gold futures hike for a third straight day. Newcrest Mining Ltd. uptrend 6.7%, and Perseus Mining Ltd. traded 15.5% higher in Sydney, while Zijin Mining Group Co. stock recorded a 4% increase in Hong Kong and 2% in Shanghai.

The advance in Hong Kong was also supported by property developers and financial shares. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. jumped 3%, and China Resources Land Ltd. skyrocketed 5.2%, while China Life Insurance Co. climbed by 4.4%.

Hong Kong property developers tend to benefit from increased demand amid low interest rates in the U.S., given that rates in the territory — which pegs its currency to the U.S. dollar — move in lockstep with the federal funds rate.

Technology and steel shares jumped in Seoul, with heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. rising 3.5%, and Hyundai Steel Co. climbing 4.3%.

In Japan, the choppy market moves came ahead of the outcome of the Bank of Japan’s monetary-policy meeting, where the central bank was expected to refrain from providing additional stimulus.

Crédit Agricole strategist Yoshiro Sato said the central bank was expected to decide that additional policy actions weren’t necessary at the moment, given Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda’s stance that the stimulus announced in April should be enough to achieve a 2% inflation in two years’ time.

However, “the Bank of Japan conducts a midterm checkup of the economic outlook presented in the late April meeting, and we continue to see that the BOJ’s inflation outlook is too optimistic to be true,” Sato said.

Several exporters weakened on the yen’s strength, as the dollar lost hold of the ¥100 level to trade around the ¥99 mark Thursday.

Toshiba Corp. pulled 2.3% back, Nikon Corp. missed 3%, and construction-equipment maker Komatsu Ltd. skidded 1.8%.