Asian shares climbed to 2-1/2-week highs on Thursday, heartened by gains on Wall Street and a recovery in crude oil prices in thin trading ahead of the Christmas holiday.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7 percent after U.S. stocks posted their third straight session of gains.
Now that this month's U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike is out of the way, investors were left to ponder how much tightening the Fed has in store for 2016, as well as the impact of the hike on the rest of the world.
Now that this month's U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hike is out of the way, investors were left to ponder how much tightening the Fed has in store for 2016, as well as the impact of the hike on the rest of the world.
Australian shares jumped 1.3 percent in a shortened Christmas Eve session, while Korea's KOSPI was up 0.3 percent.
U.S. crude futures added 0.6 percent at $37.71 a barrel while Brent crude futures rose 0.6 percent to $37.58. Both had added more than a dollar a barrel on Wednesday in thin trading, a day after Brent had touched its lowest level since July 2004.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3 percent, after Japanese markets were closed on Wednesday for the Emperor's birthday.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved on Thursday a record fiscal 2016 budget that counts on higher growth and tax revenue to achieve Abe's aim of reviving the economy and reining in public debt.
Minutes of the Bank of Japan's November rate review released earlier in the session showed that many policymakers complained of slow wage and capital expenditure growth, but were optimistic that companies will start to boost spending once emerging economies improve.
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