Wall Street surged on Wednesday, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 hitting fresh records, as equities continued their march upward after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, and a new high for transportation stocks added to the bullish tone.
All three major indexes finished more than 1 percent higher.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 297.84 points, or 1.55 percent, to 19,549.62, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 29.12 points, or 1.32 percent, to 2,241.35 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 60.76 points, or 1.14 percent, to 5,393.76.
Asian shares hopped higher on Thursday after Wall Street strode to new records and bonds rallied on wagers the European Central Bank would extend its asset buying campaign at a policy meeting later in the session.
Australian stocks led the way with a rise of 0.9 in early trade, while Nikkei futures NIYc1 pointed to an opening gain of around 1 percent.
The euro seemed little troubled after Moody's changed its outlook on Italy to negative, warning it may downgrade the credit rating if the country's deteriorating economic and debt outlook was not reversed.
The common currency took the news relatively well, easing just a touch to $1.0756 EUR=, from a top of $1.7068.
Thai
Eng