Most Asian stock markets advanced Monday, with a rosy economic outlook and strong corporate earnings lifting Japanese stocks to four-and-a-half month highs. Hong Kong's shares were boosted by expectations of further gains by banking heavyweight HSBC Holdings. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 47.32 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 11,946.92 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The benchmark index briefly topped this year's closing high of 11,966.69 points before surrendering some of the gains as investors locked in profits. Stocks continued their advance from Friday, when they rose on the government's report that the Japanese unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low of 4.2 percent in June. Shares were driven higher by healthy earnings last week from Matsushita Electric Industrial, maker of the Panasonic brand, construction machinery maker Komatsu, Nippon Steel and cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. Matsushita gained 23 yen to 1,855 yen, Komatsu added 65 yen to 1,126 yen, while Nippon Steel rose 4 yen to 288 yen. NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile phone operator, was among the most actively traded issues after reporting a 22 percent increase in net income for the April-June quarter on Friday. Its stock rose 8,000 yen to 182,000 yen.