Asian stocks climb fresh peaks after new highs on Wall Street
‘Events related to North Korea pose potential risks, but there are very few factors holding equities back at the moment’
Tokyo — Asian stocks struck record highs on Thursday, with a Wall Street rally supporting bullish sentiment. The dollar pulled back from three-year lows as comments by European Central Bank officials tempered the euro’s recent rally. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, building on the previous day’s gains to reach a fresh peak. Australian stocks were flat, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei was last up 0.4% after reaching its highest level since late 1991. Shanghai rose 0.4% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.4%. US stocks jumped on Wednesday and the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 26,000 for the first time as investors’ expectations for higher earnings lifted stocks across sectors. Optimism over prospects for sustained strong global growth and improved corporate earnings shave helped share markets rally at the start of 2018. "Events related to North Korea pose potential risks, but there are very few factors holding equiti...
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