Tokyo, May 18 (BNA): Asian stocks rose on Thursday, following Wall Street’s advance, and the dollar held off a two-month high against the yen amid signs Washington may be close to a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a crisis. First default ever.
With investors taking comfort from this reassurance, MSCI’s broader index of Asia-Pacific stocks rose 0.85%, Reuters reported.
Japan’s Nikkei continued its outperformance, rising to a 20-month high of 30,667.13, before last trading up 1.6%, at around 30,575.
Any advance above 30,795.78 would lift it to the highest level since 1990, when the Japanese bubble economy had not yet burst.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained more than 1%. Mainland blue-chips rose 0.39%.
The Australian share index rose 0.5%, taking additional wind from domestic data showing an unexpected drop in employment in April, putting some pressure off the central bank for further tightening.
Wall Street’s rally seemed to have run its course, with US stock futures more or less flat.
ZHB