Asian stocks climbed, with the regional benchmark index heading for its longest streak of weekly gains in three months, as fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits and Australia’s building industry shrank at a slower pace.

Nikkei 225 9,527.39 -17.77 -0.19%

S&P/ASX 200 4,551.76 +42.41 +0.94%

Shanghai Composite 2,061.79 +32.55 +1.60%

James Hardie Industries SE, a building materials supplier that gets about 67 percent of sales from the U.S., climbed 2.8 percent in Sydney.

People’s Insurance Company of China Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering in two years, jumped 7.5 percent in its trading debut.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the owner of the power plant at the heart of Japan’s nuclear disaster last year, surged 13 percent on a report reactors may restart next summer.