Asia shares hit one-month peak

Friday, 9 December 2016 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Asian shares hopped to one-month highs on Thursday after Wall Street strode to another record and bonds rallied on wagers the European Central Bank would extend its asset buying campaign at a policy meeting later in the session.

Risk appetites got an added boost when China reported upbeat trade figures with exports and imports both beating forecasts. Resource imports were very strong, a major reason prices for bulk commodities have been going gangbusters recently.

The resource-heavy Australian market jumped 1.2%, as did MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.

South Korea climbed 1.1% led by an all time-peak for heavyweight Samsung Electronics.

Japan’s Nikkei put on 0.8%, brushing off a disappointing downward revision to economic growth for the third quarter.

The bullish mood outweighed news that Moody’s had changed its outlook on Italy to negative, warning it may downgrade the credit rating if the country’s deteriorating economic and debt outlook was not reversed.

The euro took the move with aplomb, edging up to $1.0776 from an early trough of $1.0750.

The Dow ended Wednesday with gains of 1.55%, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.32% and the Nasdaq 1.14%.