By Andrew Galbraith and Imani Moise
SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to record highs on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a three-decade peak as investors looked beyond rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States to focus on hopes for an economic recovery later in the year.
The upbeat mood came after Wall Street hit record highs on Thursday while bond prices fell as markets bet a new Democratic-controlled government would lead to heavy spending and borrowing to support the U.S. economic recovery.
"Market participants are fairly optimistic with how things are progressing, whether it's in the political landscape, particularly of course in the United States the potential for more stimulus certainly is a boon to the economy," said James Tao, analyst at CommSec in Sydney. "You've got the vaccines now coming through, getting the approvals - it's all happening pretty quickly," he added.
The buoyant mood lifted MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 1%, touching a record high.
Seoul's Kospi led the way, charging 2.8% higher, also to a record high. In Tokyo, the Nikkei added 1.73%, hitting its highest level since August 1990.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.2% despite reports the Trump administration was considering banning U.S. entities from investing in an expanded list of Chinese companies in the waning days of the presidency, and despite the delisting of major Chinese telecoms firms from FTSE Russell and MSCI indexes.
No comments:
Post a Comment