Asian stocks advance on upbeat earnings and Fed comments 

Asian stocks managed to advance for a second day as the latest developments eclipsed the fears over Europe’s debt crisis. The upbeat earnings, the Fed comments and the upbeat South Korean GDP pushed the MSCI Asia Pacific Index up 0.2% at 14:31 in Tokyo.

Apple's robust results are still boosting sentiment, while comments from the US Federal Reserve eased eclipsed the debt woes, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for further easing measures but only if the economy unexpectedly deteriorates.

The Feds confirmed that growth will pick up gradually as the labor and housing markets are improving, which determined officials to upgrade their projections for economic growth, inflation and the unemployment during 2012. Meanwhile borrowing costs may be kept near zero until at least late 2014.

In South Korea, the 4th-largest economy in Asia, economic growth hit a one-year high during 2012’s first quarter at 0.9% as exports rebounded, budget spending increased and private consumption saw healthy growth. Yet, the outlook is still not clear as the yearly index showed the slowest outcome in 2-1/2 years.

PetroChina, Komatsu, Nintendo and Japan Tobacco are among the Asian companies scheduled to report earnings today. Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, AstraZeneca, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Bayer, Pepsi, Moody’s, Amazon and Starbucks are among the European and American companies scheduled to report earnings.

While earnings are improving, investors will be closely watching the fundamentals looking for signs of growth; as UK will release today the BBA loans for house purchasing, Europe will release the economic confidence index, Germany will issue its CPI reading while the US will release its jobless claims and pending home sales.