TOKYO : Asia-Pacific share indexes rallied on Thursday, following Wall Street's lead, and the dollar held just below a two-month high versus the yen amid signs the United States might be close to a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert a disastrous default.
As investors drew comfort from that reassurance, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares pushed 0.78 per cent higher. Japan's Nikkei continued to outperfrom the region, surging to a fresh 20-month peak of 30,667.13, before last trading 1.2 per cent higher at around 30,450. Any advance above 30,795.78 would take it to the highest since 1990, when Japan's bubble economy had still to burst.Australia's stock benchmark gained 0.
And among the major currency pairs, the dollar paused for breath in a rally that took it to fresh six-week high of $1.08105 per euro overnight. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar surged the most in three weeks to 137.72 yen, just 0.06 yen below its highest since March 8.