Asian Equities Higher as U.S. Growth Improves

Asian stocks rose after the U.S. economy grew faster than forecast and amid a report that Japan’s $1.2 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund will increase holdings of equities.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) climbed 0.4 percent to 140.82 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, before markets opened in China and Hong Kong. The gauge has advanced 2.4 percent this week, the first back-to-back weekly gains since August, after the Federal Reserve said it will end its quantitative easing program as the world’s largest economy strengthens.

The American economy expanded at a more-than-estimated annualized rate of 3.5 percent last quarter, capping its strongest six months in a decade, while other data showed fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits over the past month than at any time in more than 14 years.

Bloomberg

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