* MSCI Asia ex-Japan +0.53%, Nikkei +1.58%
* European shares seen retreating from 1-year top
* Biden signs $1.9 tln stimulus into law
* ECB says it will speed up bond purchases
By Andrew Galbraith
SHANGHAI, March 12 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Friday
after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus
bill into law, and after a dovish European Central Bank meeting
prompted a retreat in bond yields and eased global concerns
about rising inflation.
But European shares, which had jumped on Thursday's ECB
meeting, looked set to retreat from a one-year peak a day later.
Pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 were down 0.03% and
both German DAX futures FDXc1 and FTSE futures FFIc1 were
down about 0.2% in early deals.
Biden signed the stimulus legislation ahead of a televised
address in which he pledged aggressive action to speed
vaccinations and move the country closer to normality by July 4.
The signing of the American Rescue Plan provided a further
boost to market sentiment after the European Central Bank said
it was ready to accelerate money-printing to keep a lid on
borrowing costs, using its 1.85 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency
Purchase Program (PEPP) more generously over the coming months
to stop any unwarranted rise in debt financing costs.
That and a better-than-expected U.S. government bond auction
could support a rally in tech stocks and a rotation between
growth and value stocks in the next few weeks, said Cliff Zhao,
chief strategist at China Construction Bank International in
Hong Kong. "But in the second quarter the market still (will be) very
volatile, and especially when we look at the U.S. dollar it's
much stronger than expectations around the end of last year. So
I think the strong U.S. dollar may weigh on some liquidity
conditions in the emerging markets," he said.
MSCI's broadest gauge index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.53%, supported by tech gains.
Seoul's KOSPI .KS11 added 1.39%, Taiwan shares .TWII
were up 0.27% and Australia's ASX 200 .AXJO gained 0.79%.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 1.58%, and China's blue-chip
CSI300 index .CSI300 inched up 0.05% as sagging high-valuation
tech and consumer firms capped gains.
U.S. Treasury yields were higher on Friday, with the 10-year
yield US10YT=RR at 1.5512% after falling to 1.475% overnight,
its first foray below 1.5% in a week.
The German 10-year yield DE10YT=RR was last at -0.331%
after hitting a three-week low of -0.367%.
"There might be some disappointment (the ECB) didn't expand
their bond purchase program but that's largely offset by
undertakings to accelerate the purchases," said Michael
McCarthy, chief markets strategist at CMC Markets.
On Wall Street, easing inflation worries helped support
equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.58% and
the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.04%, both to record highs. The
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 2.52%.
Sentiment was also boosted by weekly jobless claims data,
which pointed to a recovering U.S. labor market as vaccine
rollouts helped lead to economic reopenings. Analysts largely expect inflation to pick up as vaccine
rollouts lead to a reopening, but worries persist that Biden's
stimulus package could overheat the economy. The dollar gained 0.22% against the yen JPY= to 108.73 and
the euro EUR= fell 0.18% on the day to $1.1963. The dollar
index =USD , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six
major rivals, rose 0.14% to 91.568.
Oil prices retreated from sharp gains as the dollar firmed,
with U.S. crude CLc1 dipping 0.41% to $65.75 a barrel. Brent
crude LCOc1 lost 0.27% to $69.44 per barrel.
Spot gold prices XAU= fell 0.22% to $1,717.70 an ounce.
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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