London — A tweak to the Bank of Japan’s bond-buying programme caused the yen to rise on Tuesday, while gains from commodity stocks as oil hit its highest since 2015 helped world shares maintain their flying start to the year. MSCI’s all-country world stocks index posted another record high as Europe’s main markets shrugged off a tech wobble in Asia and instead cheered Christmas trading updates and more forecast-beating data from Germany. The yen rose as much as half 0.5% to ¥112.50 to the dollar after Japan’s central bank trimmed its purchases of long-dated government bonds, stoking speculation it could start to wind down its stimulus policy this year. Since it adopted its yield-curve-control policy in 2016, the Bank of Japan has occasionally tweaked its buying, but some market players seemed to take Tuesday’s move as a signal. "It shouldn’t be perceived as a monstrous signal of the end of monetary easing but it shows that even the tiniest announcement on a quiet day can have a reac...
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