TOKYO (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks rose yesterday, reversing an earlier decline. Nippon Steel Corp. advanced after the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported Japanese shipmakers agreed to pay five percent more for the metal next year.“Steelmakers will benefit after Nippon Steel’s agreement on steel price increases, and higher sales by automakers such as Toyota,” said Masanori Ikunaga, who helps oversee $4.1 billion at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.

Japanese retailers, such as Aeon Co., climbed after household spending fell at the slowest pace this year in November and the jobless rate reached an eight-year low. Taiwan stocks jumped after the country’s central banker said he favours the free exchange of China’s currency in Taiwan.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 0.3 percent to 138.95 as of 6.21 p.m. in Tokyo. It lost as much as 0.3 percent earlier. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.5 percent to 17,169.19, reversing a drop, while the broader Topix index gained 0.5 percent to 1672.45.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. led a decline by Japanese banks on concern gains in the nation’s consumer prices aren’t enough to prompt the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose to a record after the central bank said consumer prices may fall, easing concerns that the government may raise interest rates.

Stock indexes dropped in South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. They rose elsewhere in the region. Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the Philippines are closed for a holiday today.

Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest maker of the alloy, added 5.1 percent to 642 yen, its highest since March 1990. JFE Holdings Inc., the country’s second-biggest steelmaker, rose 3.5 percent to 6,230 yen, a record.

Nippon Steel negotiated a price increase of about 5 percent on steel plates it will supply to domestic shipbuilders including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. next year, the Nihon Keizai said. Hiroshi Nakashima, a spokesman for Nippon Steel, declined to comment on the negotiations.

Mitsubishi Heavy is near an agreement with the steelmaker “along the lines of the story” on prices, said Hideo Ikuno, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy.

Aeon, Japan’s largest retailer, added 2.4 percent to 2,565 yen. Fast Retailing Co., Asia’s largest clothing retailer, jumped 1.8 percent to 11,410 yen.

Household spending declined 0.7 percent in November from a year earlier, after falling 2.4 percent in October, less than the 1.5 percent drop predicted by 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The unemployment rate fell to four percent in November, matching an eight-year low set in May, the statistics bureau said in a separate report today.

Taiwan’s Taiex index jumped 1.1 percent. Perng Fai-nan, governor of Taiwan’s Central Bank of China, said yesterday that now is the best time to allow the yuan to be freely exchanged in Taiwan. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council must authorise any move to allow exchange of the Chinese currency in Taiwan.

The Topix Banks Index, which tracks 84 lenders on the first section of the Tokyo stock exchange, lost 0.2 percent. It was the biggest drag on the wider benchmark.