Signs of steady global growth, which have prompted the ECB and a couple of other major central banks to signal future tightening since last month, have kept the world’s stocks on firm footing,Reuters reports.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which has gained about 5 percent in the past two weeks, eased 0.2 percent, dragged down by a fall in material and financial shares.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.2 percent.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was steady after rising for its 10th consecutive day on Thursday, its longest such streak since February 2015. It has advanced around 3 percent in the latest rally.”
Strong global growth and (a) decent earnings outlook are supporting shares globally,” said Tatsushi Maeno, senior strategist at Okasan Asset Management.U.S. quarterly earnings are expected to have climbed 8.6 percent, above the 8-percent rise projected at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
