London — World shares extended a run of record highs on Thursday, as a cautious-sounding Bank of Japan (BoJ) lifted Asian stocks to an almost 10-year peak and Europe wagered on an incremental increase in confidence from the European Central Bank (ECB) at its latest meeting. The euro was near a 14-month high and investors were riding a global rally in stocks as Asia’s and then Europe’s early 0.4% gains ensured MSCI’s 47-country All World index was up for a 10th consecutive session. It is its longest winning streak since February 2015 and was showing little sign of fatigue even as bond yields — the key driver of global borrowing costs — edged higher again. They were lifted as oil prices held almost 2% gains made the previous session when falling US crude inventories gave the market a lift ahead of a key Opec meeting next week. The day’s focus though was squarely on the Japanese central bank’s decision to push back its ambitious inflation target again and on whether ECB head Mario Drag...
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