Asian shares touch 8-month high on possible BoE rate cuts

Asian shares were seen near an eight-month high on Thursday on the back of strong investor hopes over Bank of England rate cuts in a move to prevent recession.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were down 0.1% in early trade but stood near its eight-month peak hit on Wednesday.

Japan’s Nikkei opened flat, trading at 16,350.02 points.

According to a report by Reuters, U.S. stocks ticked up on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 and Dow industrials set record highs, with investors expecting upbeat earnings to keep the rally going.

SGX Nifty also opened flat at 8,517.00 points on Thursday.

Oil prices bounced back slightly after tumbling more than 4 percent on Wednesday, erasing most of the previous session`s gain, as a run of bearish U.S. inventory data heightened concerns about a global glut, the report by Reuters added.

Brent crude futures were trading up 37 cents at $46.63 per barrel at 8:22 am IST.