16 February 2017
Asian stocks edged to new 19-month highs on Thursday with gains underpinned by an ongoing rally on Wall Street.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent to its highest since July 2015. It is up by a tenth this year thanks to more optimistic earnings expectations and an unwinding of bearish emerging market bets.

Most Gulf stock markets rose on Wednesday on the back of strong global equity prices, while Egypt's bourse continued to pull back on profit-taking, breaking technical support.

Oil prices held steady on Thursday, supported by ongoing supply cuts led by producer group OPEC, although rising fuel inventories and crude production in the United States weighed on sentiment.

Gold prices rose on Thursday as the dollar pulled back after rising to one-month highs in the wake of upbeat U.S. economic data, with demand for the greenback cooling as Treasury yields came off their peaks.

In the latest news, the Federal Reserve aims to raise U.S. interest rates in the months ahead as long as the economy continues to grow a bit above its trend and if, as expected, fiscal policies provide a boost, New York Fed President William Dudley, said on Wednesday.

Libya's oil production should rise from about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) currently to 1.2 million bpd by August, a member of the National Oil Corporation's board said on Wednesday.

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