A man walks past a stock quotation board flashing the Nikkei 225 key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in front of a securities company in Tokyo on July 20, 2017. - Reuters
TOKYO: The euro held near two-year highs against the dollar on Friday after the head of the European Central Bank said tapering of its stimulus will be on the table this autumn, while a solid global economic outlook kept Asian share prices near decade highs.
While ECB President Mario Draghi set no date for changes to the bond-buying plan, investors took his comments as confirming their expectations that the discussions would lead to monetary tightening next year.
"Although bond markets didn't take his comments as something particularly new, the currency market liked the fact that Draghi confirmed his stance towards tapering," said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.
In early Asian trade, the euro stood at $1.1630
Signs of steady global growth, which have prompted the ECB and a couple of other major central banks to signal future tightening since last month, have kept the world's shares on firm footing.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS>, which has gained about 5 percent in the past two weeks, eased 0.1 percent as regional markets opened.
Japan's Nikkei <.N225> dropped 0.3 percent as the yen rose against the dollar.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.MIWD00000PUS> gained for a 10 straight session on Thursday, its longest such streak since February 2015. It has advanced 3.1 percent during the latest rally.
On Wall Street, the major indexes were almost flat.
Not helping U.S. shares were concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's inability to push his through healthcare reform bills, the passage of which will be needed to finance his tax cut plans.
The dollar was also dogged by similar concerns, with its index against a basket of major six currencies <.DXY> <=USD> hitting its lowest level since August on Thursday.
Against the yen, the U.S. currency hit a three-week low of 111.48 yen
While the euro gained sharply on Draghi's comments, global bond markets reacted more calmly, partly as he did not give a clear signal on when the ECB will announce its tapering.
The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield
The 10-year German Bund yield
"I think it is unlikely that Draghi will announce tapering in September. Before the ECB reduced its bond purchase in April, Draghi had asked his staff to look into options in September, and three months later in December he made an announcement," said Hideki Kishida, a senior economist at Nomura Securities.
"This time he hasn't even tasked his staff to prepare options," he added.
In commodities, oil edged up after choppy trading the previous day, as nagging worries about abundant global crude supplies sank prices after an early rally had boosted Brent above $50 per barrel for the first time since June 7.
Traders predicted prices would hold near current levels ahead of Monday's meeting between key OPEC and non-OPEC producers in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Brent crude futures
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