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Shares in Asia gain as spate of central bank policy easing aids

Published 03/12/2015, 11:33 PM
Updated 03/12/2015, 11:35 PM
© Reuters. Asian shares gain
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Investing.com - Asian shares rose on Friday on continued upbeat sentiment following a slew of regional central bank rate cuts or neutral policies.

In the past two weeks, India, China, South Korea and Thailand have cut rates, while New Zealand has moved to a neutral stance and Australia cut in February.

The moves have been reflected in shares with the Nikkei 225 up 1.56% at the break on Friday and the Shanghai Composite up 1.04%.

Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.47%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.26%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.89%.

On Thursday, U.S. data showed that U.S. retail sales dropped unexpectedly last month although a separate report showed that U.S. jobless claims fell more than anticipated last week.

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell 0.6% in February, the third consecutive monthly decline. Economists had forecast in increase of 0.3%.

Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline and food were flat following a 0.1% decline in January.

Another report showed that U.S. import prices rose 0.4% in February, snapping seven months of declines, but the report indicated that inflation pressures remained muted due to lower petroleum prices.

At the same time the Labor Department reported that the number people filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 36,000 to 289,000 last week, indicating that the recovery in the labor market is continuing to strengthen.

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