Sydney — Asian shares neared record peaks on Monday after Wall Street boasted its best start to a year in more than a decade, with brisk economic growth and benign inflation proving a potent cocktail for risk appetite. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1%, having climbed 3.1% last week, its strongest performance in six months. At 587.99, the index is within spitting distance of the record top of 591.50 hit in November 2007. Australian stocks gained 0.3% to notch another decade summit, while South Korea rose 0.1%. Japan’s Nikkei was closed for a holiday but touched its highest since 1992 last week. "It was the global synchronised growth that drove earnings and equity markets higher last year and the global economy has entered 2018 firing on all cylinders," said analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, predicting the global economy could expand at 4% or more this year. "This growth is keeping our quant models bullish and driving earnings revisions to...
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