Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday, helped by strong gains in Tokyo and the positive close on Wall Street overnight. Japanese markets rallied during morning trading, on track to snap a two-day losing streak, after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said it would propose a Y15,400bn ($154bn) stimulus package that would include investments in ports, roads and alternative energy. The Nikkei was further boosted by an unexpected rise in machinery orders.
Asian markets (Thurs)
04:07 BST
Nikkei up 158.38 (1.8%) at 8,753.39
Topix up 12.61 (1.6%) at 827.87
Hang Seng up 271.41 (1.88%) at 14,745.28
US markets (Wed)
S&P500 up 9.61 (1.18%) at 825.16
DJIA up 47.55 (0.61%) at 7837.11
Nasdaq up 29.05 (1.86%) at 1590.66
European markets (Wed)
FTSE100 down 5.00 (-0.13%) at 3,925.52
Eurofirst 300 up 1.89 (0.25%) at 762.58
Currencies
04:15 BST
€/$ 1.3254 (1.3196)
$/¥ 99.77 (100.12 )
£/$ 1.4716 (1.4684)
Commodities
04:05 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.55 at $52.1o
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.48 at $49.86
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down $1.80 at $884.10
Copper (Comex) up 0.40 at 200.25
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:00 BST
US 2.87 (2.88)
UK 3.35 (3.23)
Germany 3.21 (3.23)
Japan 1.48 (1.44)
Sources: FT, Bloomberg