Asian shares held near a two-month high on Friday, catching some of Wall Street’s shine after upbeat U.S. price and jobless claims data eased some concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy, Reuters reported Oct. 16, 2015.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS held steady after paring earlier gains, on track to show a rise of 1.8 percent for the week.
Wall Street logged solid gains overnight, after the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell back to a 42-year low last week. That suggested the labor market remained strong even though recent jobs data have sent mixed signals.
Also out overnight, the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, gained 0.2 percent in September after ticking up 0.1 percent in August, reviving some bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will deliver its first interest rate hike since 2006 as early as this year.
The Fed held policy steady last month, and expressed concerns that the slowing global economy, particularly in China, might pose a threat to the U.S. economic outlook.