Asian equity markets have followed their European counterparts higher in overnight trading, but investor attention is now firmly focused on the US once again.
The MSCI Asia Pacific rose 0.8% to 131.65, and now stands up 1% on the week, as investors continue to digest the Bank of England and European Central Bank's attempts to counter rises in market interest rates. The MSCI rise was accompanied by a 2.1% rise in Japan's Nikkei 225 to 14,309, with the yen weakening and the US dollar strengthening as investors bank on a strong US jobs report later today. Yesterday, in a move seen as a response to the back-up in yields observed over the past month after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke hinted at a slowdown in US quantitative easing, ECB p...
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