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 The new Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's reassurance on U.S.
monetary policy and economic outlooks also appear to have done
enough for now to underpin risk appetite.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was little changed, having erased all of its losses
since late January, sparked by fear over emerging markets. Japan's
Nikkei <.N225> was off 0.4 percent after a 0.6 percent gain the
previous day.
The recent selloff in emerging markets were driven by worries about
a slowdown in China and the Fed's tapering of its massive stimulus.
As a result, investors were relieved after a strong performance in
China's January trade data on Wednesday.
Adding to the positive mood, the U.S. Congress approved legislation
on Wednesday to increase the country's debt limit for a year,
avoiding a repeat of a nasty political showdown that led to
government shutdown in October.
Investors are now looking ahead to U.S. retail sales and jobless
claims due later in the day.
On Wall Street, shares were almost flat on Wednesday after a
four-day rally as investors pondered whether valuations had become
stretched.
Emerging market shares had a better day, with MSCI's index of
emerging market stocks adding 0.9 percent <.MSCIEF>.
In the currency market, the British pound stood out after a
surprisingly upbeat economic outlook from the Bank of England
prompted markets to price in an interest rate hike in early 2015.
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The sterling edged up to $1.6610, getting near its 2 1/2-year high
of $1.6667hit late last month.
In contrast, the euro slipped to $1.3589, pulling further away from
highs of $1.3684 hit on Tuesday after dovish comments from a top
European Central Bank official.
ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said the idea of cutting
into negative territory the rate the ECB pays banks to hold their
deposits overnight was "a very possible option".
"Being a member of the six person Executive Board, Coeure's comments
cannot be lightly dismissed and stoke expectations for action at the
March meeting," said Sean Callow, currency strategist at Westpac in
Sydney.
(Additional reporting by Ian Chua in
Sydney; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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