Tokyo — Asian shares rose for a fifth consecutive day on Friday as investor confidence slowly returns after a sharp sell-off earlier in February, but the dollar continued its descent, hitting a three-year low against a basket of major currencies. US debt yields stood near multi-year highs. Two-year note yields hit a nine-and-a-half-year high as bond prices fell on Federal Reserve officials’ signalling that recent volatility in US stocks would not stop them raising interest rates in March. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5%, though many Asian markets were closed on Friday for the Lunar New year. Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.1%, with investors relieved to see the government appoint Bank of Japan (BoJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda for another term, in a sign the central bank will be in no rush to dial back its massive stimulus programme. Measured by the MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stocks covering 47 markets, global shares have now reclaimed more than hal...
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