Japan stocks touch 15-year high amid speculation of stimulus from China and Japan
On Wednesday Japanese shares
scaled 15-year peaks with Hong Kong's market touching
seven-year highs amid speculation of more stimulus from China and Japan,
as well as a delayed start to any tightening by the U.S. central bank.
In Asian time, the Bank of Japan disappointed some by ending a two-day policy meeting with no new steps in its already massive bond-buying campaign. Yet with inflation back at zero, there is much talk it might expand the program at its next meeting on April 30.
The greenback declined against the yen to trade at 119.90 JPY=, leaving behind an early 120.34 top.
Investors were encouraged enough to lift the Nikkei .N225 0.8 percent and finally take out a triple top at 19,778. The break took it to ground last trod in April 2000 and was seen as technically bullish with 20,000 the obvious next target.
Other milestones littered the region as Hong Kong shares .HSI shattered major resistance with a 2.6 percent rise to the highest since mid-2008.
Shanghai .SSEC scored seven-year peaks and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.2 percent to its highest since mid-September.
South Korea's Kospi .KS11 made a seven-month top, while the Philippines .PSI market has been on a tear over the last couple of weeks to reach record highs.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said just before the European open it had agreed to buy BG Group (BG.L) for 47 billion pounds ($70 billion) in the first oil super-merger in a decade.
Futures were pointing to a softer opening for European stock markets, but the confirmation of the megadeal could boost sentiment.
Wall Street ended flat on Tuesday, as a firmer dollar was viewed as a danger to multinational corporations' profits.
On Tuesday Bank of America-Merrill Lynch trimmed its 2015 earnings estimates for the S&P 500 by $2 a share.
The Dow .DJI ended Tuesday down 0.03 percent, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.21 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 0.14 percent.
The greenback regained much of the ground it lost to the euro following Friday's disappointing U.S. jobs report, to stand at $1.0835 EUR=.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was also shade lower at 97.719.
