Singapore - Asian shares scaled a
near-decade peak on Thursday, bolstered by a surge in global
stocks to new records on strong US corporate earnings, while
the yen eased slightly after the Bank of Japan reinforced
expectations it will lag other central banks in dialling back
stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
added 0.15 percent, hovering near its highest
level since December 2007.
Australian stocks rose 0.6 percent and South Korea's
KOSPI was up 0.1 percent.
Chinese blue chips advanced 0.15 percent, while
the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.25 percent. Hong
Kong's Hang Seng crept up 0.3 percent.
The MSCI World index inched up in its 10th
straight session of gains on Thursday and set a record high for
the sixth consecutive day, lifted by all-time closing highs on
Wall Street in the wake of strong earnings reports.
"In the US, the earnings season seems to be surprising a
little bit on the upside," said Bruce McCain, chief investment
strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland.
"What we have seen recently in the economic reports suggests
it should be even better overseas...So we have come to the point
where things look pretty good in the US and it looks even
better in prospect overseas, so what's not to like about
equities," he said.
The yen weakened slightly after the BOJ pushed back its
projected timing for hitting its 2 percent inflation target, as
it cut price forecasts until fiscal year 2020.
The Japanese currency slipped 0.2 percent to trade at 112.10
yen to the dollar following the BOJ decision. The
weaker yen helped lift the Nikkei 0.4 percent.
The euro was steady at $1.15195 on Thursday, ahead
of a meeting of the European Central Bank later in the session.
The common currency hit 14-month high this week following
seemingly hawkish comments by ECB President Mario Draghi.
At Thursday's meeting, the ECB may drop a reference to its
readiness to increase the size or duration of its asset-purchase
programme before announcing in the autumn how and when it will
start winding down its bond buying.
"The euro has surged enormously on the back of hopes that
the ECB is going to start the process of shutting the door on
loose monetary policy," Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at
ThinkMarkets UK, wrote in a note.
"The ECB needs to be clear about its forward guidance and it
should reinforce that in a subtle manner. Coming out of the
gates too aggressively would create shock waves in the market."
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against
a basket of trade-weighted peers, was flat at 94.784.
The Australian dollar set a new two-year high on
Thursday, still heady from the minutes of the last Reserve Bank
of Australia meeting, released Tuesday, which showed the central
bank had turned more upbeat on the economic outlook.
It pulled back from that high to trade down 0.15 percent
from Wednesday's close at $0.7942.
The Canadian dollar was about 0.1 percent weaker at
C$1.2615 to the dollar. On Tuesday, it touched a 14-month high
on record domestic factory sales and stronger oil prices.
Oil prices, which hit a two-week peak on Wednesday on a
bigger-than-expected weekly draw in crude and gasoline
inventories in the United States, were marginally lower on
Thursday.
US crude fell 0.1 percent to $47.07 a barrel, after
jumping 1.6 percent overnight.
Global benchmark Brent also lost 0.1 percent to
$49.64, holding on to most of Wednesday's 1.8 percent gain.
Gold pulled back 0.15 percent to $1,238.55 an ounce
on Thursday.