By Shani Raja and Satoshi Kawano

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, sending the region’s benchmark index to a six-week high, after better-than- estimated U.S. jobs figures boosted oil and metal prices and spurred confidence the global economy is recovering.

Sony Corp., which gets almost a quarter of its sales in the U.S., climbed 3.6 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 2.4 percent after winning a 55 percent price increase from JFE Holdings Inc.’s steel unit. Arrow Energy Ltd. surged 45 percent after receiving a takeover offer. KT Corp. rose 3.1 percent in Seoul after South Korea’s communications regulator imposed a cap on marketing costs.

“The U.S. jobless rate was better than expected in spite of concern it would worsen,” said Tomochika Kitaoka, a senior strategist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Stocks that are sensitive to the global economy should rise.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.1 percent to 121.66 as of 10:10 a.m. in Tokyo, set to close at the highest since Jan. 22, The gauge has fallen 4 percent from a 17-month high on Jan. 15 on concern over budget deficits in Europe and speculation governments around the world will withdraw stimulus. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at the weekend the euro region is ready to rescue Greece should it struggle to fund its deficit.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.6 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.9 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 1.1 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge jumped 1.4 percent after government figures showed the U.S. jobless rate was at 9.7 percent in February. The rate was projected to increase to 9.8 percent, according to the median estimate of 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

To contact the reporters for this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net. Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.