Global stock markets marched on towards new peaks on Tuesday.
The pan-European STOXX 600, German blue chips and the Paris CAC 40 benchmark all opened to new record highs, rising between 0.2 and 0.4 percent.
Earlier, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent to its highest level since Oct 27, while Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.1 percent.
Shanghai stocks closed slightly lower with defense stocks leading the losses while Wall Street futures were flat.
All in all, MSCI’s world stock index hovered in striking distance of last week’s historic peaks.
While some investors are becoming wary of buying into record-breaking equity markets, many analysts believe there is some upside left.
“Although the S&P 500 remains close to record highs, we think strong economic and earnings growth, coupled with an accommodative policy backdrop, should win out over inflation concerns and support further upside for equities,” Mark Haefele, CIO at UBS GWM, wrote in a note on Tuesday morning.
The onshore spot price briefly hit a high of 6.3666 per dollar, the strongest since June 1, before giving up some gains.
The dollar edged lower in reaction to the improved sentiment and lost ground on the euro, which ticked up from a 16-month low and was last at $1.1374.
Benchmark 10-year US Treasury yields inched up and were last at 1.6197 percent, a substantial jump since the one-month low of 1.42 percent hit one week ago.
Later in the day, US retail sales, trade prices and industrial production for October are also due, giving another hint about the health of the world’s biggest economy.
In Europe, the yield of the benchmark German 10-year government bond rose by about 2 basis point to -0.222 percent.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday pushed back on market bets for tighter monetary policy, saying doing so now to rein in inflation could choke off the euro zone’s recovery.
Oil rebounded from a weak start with Brent futures adding 0.98 percent at $82.85 a barrel.
Spot gold rose 0.13 percent at $1,865 an ounce, just off Monday’s five month high of $1,870.