March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for the third day in four, led by finance companies, while the yen gained versus 15 of 16 major counterparts on concern a rescue plan for Greece won’t provide loans large enough to resolve its deficit.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 122.96 as of 4:15 p.m. in Tokyo. The yen strengthened to 123.35 per euro in Tokyo from 123.83 in New York yesterday. Copper for three- month delivery climbed 0.7 percent to $7,357 a metric ton. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, advanced 1.9 percent yesterday, its fourth consecutive increase. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures increased 0.1 percent. Futures for the Euro Stoxx 50 advanced 0.6 percent at 7:15 a.m. in London.

Investors have become more confident that central banks will sustain the global recovery. The Bank of Japan may expand a fund that provides loans to banks to increase lending. The BOJ meets today and tomorrow. Federal Reserve officials are expected to debate if the world’s largest economy has improved enough to end the policy of keeping interest rates “exceptionally low.”

“Expectations for the BOJ to take additional measures for monetary easing have contributed to a gain in stocks,” said Naoteru Teraoka, general manager at Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, which oversees $23 billion.

Advancing stocks matched decliners on the MSCI Asia Index. Sony Financial Holdings Inc., the insurance and banking unit of Sony Corp., soared 13.8 percent to 298,100 yen in Tokyo, leading gains among finance companies in the region, after saying it will boost bond holdings to reduce risk. Toyota Motor Corp. added 1.3 percent to 3,550 yen. Nikon Corp., the second-largest camera maker for professionals, climbed 2.8 percent to 2,168 yen.

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea’s second-largest automaker, jumped 4.5 percent on speculation its earnings will beat estimates. Telstra Corp. rose 2.3 percent in Sydney as Australia’s Senate delayed a vote on legislation to break up the former state monopoly. Battery maker BYD Co., backed by Warren Buffett, rose 6.1 percent to HK$73.25. BNP Paribas raised its share-price estimate for the stock to HK$100 from HK$87.24, and boosting its earnings forecasts for 2010 and 2011 earnings by more than 46.6 percent each.

Chip Makers

Memory-chip makers rallied in Taiwan trading after prices of the benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chip rose to the highest since Jan. 14. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory-chip maker, expects prices to remain “stable” in the second half of the year, Kwon Oh-Hyun, head of the company’s chip division, also said. Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. surged 6.9 percent to NT$4.21, while Nanya Technology Corp. gained 4.9 percent to NT$30.

The Bank of Japan’s options include expanding a 10 trillion yen fund providing loans to banks, two central bank officials said last week on condition of anonymity. The country remains in a “mild deflationary phase,” the Cabinet Office said yesterday in its economic assessment for March.

The Fed will announce its interest-rate decision today, with all 90 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecasting policy makers will keep the benchmark interest rate at a record- low range of zero to 0.25 percent.

Finance ministers from the 16 countries using the euro worked out a strategy for emergency loans in case Greece’s plan for 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in tax increases and wage cuts fails to reduce its budget deficit.

Few Details

Direct loans to Greece would probably come through governments pooling funds, said a European official who asked not to be named. The meeting in Brussels yesterday didn’t resolve the size of future loans, which countries would offer them or the rates and durations.

“There are worries that concrete aid measures for Greece may not be announced,” said Hideki Amikura, deputy general manager of foreign exchange at Nomura Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s largest brokerage.

Crude oil traded below $80 a barrel at $79.77 amid signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep output levels unchanged at a meeting tomorrow in Vienna, contributing to the high level of crude stockpiles.

Oil declined 1.8 percent yesterday as the U.S. currency gained against the euro, curbing demand for commodities as an alternative investment. An Energy Department report tomorrow may show U.S. crude supplies rose for a seventh week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts