\n\tThe analyst principally responsible for the production of this research report is: Howard Humphreys, Director & Lead Research Analyst, Seismic Research<\/p>\n
\n\tAsian stocks surge on U.S. data, helicopter Ben<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAsian stocks outside of Japan rallied today on a strong lead from Wall Street on the back of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke defending the central bank's asset purchasing program and a couple of better-than-expected U.S. housing reports.<\/p>\n \n\tLocal stocks maintained gains today even as a report showed total construction work done in Australia unexpectedly fell 0.1% in the December quarter, compared to a forecast 1.5% gain in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. An overnight rally in copper, thanks largely to a report showing purchases of new U.S. homes jumped by the most in two decades in January, helped to spur a 0.8% gain in ASX 200 materials stocks today. BHP Billiton ((BHP)) closed 0.9% higher.<\/p>\n \n\tUtilities were the strongest performers today, with AGL Energy ((AGK)) leading gains; rallying 4.5% after it reported a 20% increase in underlying profit for the first half, thanks largely to the takeover of Loy Yang Power.<\/p>\n \n\tTo read today's report in PDF in full, see link at the top of this story.<\/p>\n