Asian stocks gain as Dow clocks record high

Asian stocks gained this Wednesday morning, while bonds slipped after the Dow Jones closed at a record high. 

Japan’s Nikkei index rose to one-year highs on dollar strength. The index added 0.34%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5% to trade at the highest level in more than a year. Shanghai Composite gained almost 1%. 

The Dow rose 91.56 points to close at a record high of 19,974.62 levels. 

On the FX markets, the dollar suffered moderate losses in Asia. The Aussie underperformed. Gold recovered from the 10-month low to trade around $1135/Oz levels. 

Oil added 0.5% as the American Petroleum Institute data released overnight showed the inventories dropped by 4.15 million barrels. 

Markets are once again showing resilience in the face of terror attacks.  Moreover, investors focus on the likelihood of higher US growth rates in 2017. Trading volumes are thinning out ahead of the December holidays and year-end.