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.

MS C I’ s broad est 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 up trend most of this year, posting a monthly loss only once in 2017. For the year, itis up about33% so far, on track for its best annual performance since a 68% jump in 2009.

Jap an’ sNikkeiwa sup 0.8% on Wednesday and South Korea’s K OS PI 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 S eng 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.