Global stocks rally on boost from strong global growth, earnings

By Swati Pandey

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares joined a global rally and scaled a fresh decade peak on Wednesday as strong world growth and rising corporate profits lured hordes of investors into equities, while oil prices jumped on expectations of a production cut.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.6 percent to Wednesday's 1.3 percent rise - the biggest gain in eight months, supported by energy and technology sectors.

The index has been on an uptrend most of this year, posting a monthly loss only once in 2017. For the year, it is up about 33 percent so far, on track for its best annual performance since a 68 percent jump in 2009.

Japan's Nikkei was up 0.8 percent on Wednesday and South Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.4 percent. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index inched higher towards critical chart level of 6,000 points.

A strengthening global economy this year has fed an insatiable appetite for equities, with Asia's trade-dependent nations enjoying robust overseas sales in a boon to corporate earnings.

"Emerging markets are flying and this is where traders are really generating outperformance," said Chris Weston, Melbourne-based chief markets strategist at IG.

"Asia, in particular, is looking super strong," he added. "There is a genuine chase for performance from active money managers here."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is up 35.5 percent year-to-date while China's CSI 300 has returned 27.4 percent so far in 2017.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced to record closing highs on Tuesday, while the Dow set a new intra-day high.

Investors looking to eke out additional gains before the end of the year flocked to tech stocks, some fund managers said, with Apple Inc, Google's Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com rallying.

While markets expect the Federal Reserve to hike rates next month, analysts say that is unlikely to dampen equities as financial markets remain accommodative.

The U.S. Treasury yield curve flattened to its lowest in a decade as benign inflation and hunger for yield have supported longer-dated debt. Benchmark 10-year notes have inched higher to yield 2.3559 percent.

The 2-year Treasury, at 1.77 percent, is at the highest since 2008 and set to surpass Australia's 2-year government bond yields for the first time since December 2000.

In currencies, the U.S. dollar was generally on the backfoot against major rivals, falling for a second straight day on the Japanese yen.

The Australian dollar was steady around $0.7576, putting a bit of distance between a five-month trough of $0.7532 plumbed overnight on dovish-sounding Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting minutes.

The euro trod water at $1.1741, drifting away from a recent one-month peak of $1.1860.

In commodities, oil prices firmed after a reported fall in U.S. crude inventories and on expectations that an OPEC-led production cut aimed at tightening the market will be extended beyond March 2018.

U.S. light crude added 83 cents to $57.66 while Brent crude oil climbed 51 to $63.08, not far from a near 2-1/2 year peak of $64.65 touched earlier this month.

Copper futures extended gains for a fourth straight day, while spot gold was barely changed at $1,280.61.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)