GLOBAL STOCKS HIT RECORD ON WORLD GROWTH, EARNINGS BOOST

SYDNEY: Asian shares joined a global rally and scaled a fresh decade peak on Wednesday as strong world growth and rising corporate profits lured hordes of investors into equities, while oil prices jumped on expectations of a production cut.

MSCI’S broadest index of Asiapacific shares outside Japan added 0.6% to Wednesday’s 1.3% rise, the biggest gain in eight months, supported by energy and technology sectors.

The index has been on an uptrend most of this year, posting a monthly loss only once in 2017. For the year, it is up about 33% so far, on track for its best annual performance since a 68% jump in 2009.

Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.8% on Wednesday and South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 0.4%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index inched higher towards critical chart level of 6,000 points.

A strengthening global economy this year has fed an insatiable appetite for equities, with Asia’s trade-dependent nations enjoying robust overseas sales in a boon to corporate earnings.

“Emerging markets are flying and this is where traders are really generating outperformance,” said Chris Weston, Melbourne-based chief markets strategist at IG. “Asia, in particular, is looking super strong. There is a genuine chase for performance from active money managers.”

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 35.5 percent year-to-date while China’s CSI 300 has returned 27.4 percent so far in 2017.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced to record closing highs on Tuesday, while the Dow set a new intra-day high.

Investors looking to eke out additional gains before the end of the year flocked to tech stocks, some fund managers said, with Apple Inc, Google’s Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com rallying.

While markets expect the Federal Reserve to hike rates next month, analysts say that is unlikely to dampen equities as financial markets remain accommodative.