Sydney — Asian shares pulled ahead on Monday while bonds were in demand globally on mounting speculation the US Federal Reserve will sound decidedly dovish at its policy meeting this week. Japan’s Nikkei led the way with a rise of 0.56%, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.35%. Shanghai blue chips firmed 0.8%, while e-mini futures for the S&P 500 were a fraction lower. The S&P 500 boasted its best weekly gain since the end of November last week, while the Nasdaq had its best week so far this year. There is much talk Fed policymakers will lower their interest rate forecasts, or “dot plots”, to show little or no further tightening this year. Also expected is more detail on a plan to stop cutting the Fed’s holdings of nearly $3.8-trillion in bonds. The two-day meeting ends with a news conference on Wednesday. As a result, yields on three and five-year treasuries are dead in line with the effective Fed funds rate, while futures imply a better-than-e...
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