(MENAFN– ecpulse)
Asian stocks advanced on Thursday amid expectations the US Federal Reserve will keep its stimulus program while Bank of Japan (BoJ) upgraded its economic assessment.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 2.3% to 135.478 as of 14:30 in Hong Kong
The minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting released showed that policy policymakers await more signs of improvement from the job market before starting to reduce stimulus.
In Japan the stronger yen weighed on exporters; BoJ kept monetary policy steady after a two day meeting however it upgraded its economic assessment which gave additional support.
- Nikkei 225 closed 0.39% higher at 14472.58
- Topix closed 0.04% lower at 1194.77
In China, stocks also rose as the weak trade numbers on Wednesday triggered hopes that the central bank may ease monetary policy to boost growth.
- China’s CSI 300 Index closed 4.61% higher at 2326.69
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 2.55% higher at 21437.49
In Australia, stocks also found support from the stronger-than-expected employment report for June, pushing the Australian dollar up over 1%; higher gold prices gave miners support.
- The S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.31% higher at 4965.70
- New Zealand’s NZX 50 closed 0.07% higher at 4560.05
In South Korea stocks hit a new three-week high on optimism over a continuation of US monetary stimulus and a stronger yen. Sentiment also improved as Bank of Korea raised its 2013 growth forecast to 2.8% from 2.6% previous forecasts.
- Kospi closed 2.93% higher at 1877.60
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