Asian stocks jumped at mid-day trading, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index higher for the first time in five days, as takeover news of two Australian companies and a weaker yen boosted the outlook for Japan's exporters raised the appetite of investors.

Centennial Coal Co. went up 34 percent in Sydney after Banpu Plc agreed to buy the 80 percent of Centennial it doesn't already own. CSR Ltd., Australia's No. 2 building-products maker, climbed 3.2 percent after agreeing to sell its Sucrogen sugar unit to Wilmar International Ltd. for A$1.75 billion ($1.5 billion). Canon Inc., the world's No. 1 camera maker, climbed 1.1 percent in Tokyo as the yen weakened against the euro.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3 percent to 112.01 as of 10:33 a.m. in Tokyo.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index and South Korea's Kospi Index both gained 0.2 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.5 percent.

Chris Weston, head of institutional dealing at IG Markets in Melbourne told Bloomberg News: "We're a bit oversold in the short term and people are trying to get value. What we're seeing at the moment is a classic tug of war between bearish market dynamics and bullish valuations."

Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.3 percent.

Analysts are hopeful that the MSCI Asia Pacific index would rally this week after a steep fall of 3.4 percent last week due to lower US manufacturing output, lower economic gains for China and Europe.