Asian shares hit ten-year highs

TOKYO: Asian shares rallied to their highest in a decade and Japan’s Nikkei climbed to its best close since 1992 on Tuesday, while oil prices held most of their gains a day after surging to more than two-year peaks.

Futures hinted at solid openings for European bourses, with European stock futures, Dax futures and FTSE futures and CAC futures each up 0.3 per cent.

MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan extended early gains, rising 0.7 per cent to its loftiest peak since November 2007. The index got a bump higher after all three major US equity indexes closed at record highs overnight. Japan’s Nikkei reversed early losses and finished 1.7 per cent higher, on expectations of strong earnings from Japanese companies.

“Foreign investors who were underweight on Japanese stocks in the summer are raising their investment stances to neutral and even overweight,” said Norihiro Fujito, a senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index jumped 1 per cent to a nearly 10-year high, bolstered by strong commodities prices. Australia’s central bank held rates at record lows for a 14th straight policy meeting on Tuesday as expected, and signalled it would stay sidelined for months to come amid stubbornly low inflation.

US crude shed 11 cents to $57.24 after breaking above $56 a barrel for the first time in more than two years overnight. Brent crude futures were down 7 cents at $64.20.

The dollar index added 0.1 per cent to 94.847 .Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.4 per cent to 114.12 but remained below its eightmonth high of 114.737 marked in the previous session. The euro edged down 0.1 per cent. -