Shares rose on Wednesday following a strong rally in the previous session, as investors bet on unprecedented stimulus measures to ease the economic pain for businesses and households.
Ciara Lee reports
Global shares jumped again on Wednesday (March 25) in the wake of Wall Street's massive rebound.
It came after the U.S. government reached an agreement on a giant economic stimulus bill to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S. deal has been billed as a $2 trillion package.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 3.4% while Japan's Nikkei surged nearly 7%.
European shares continued the rally.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up over 2 percent in early trade.
The benchmark index has now recovered its losses from mid March on the back of extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus from Europe and the U.S. But investors are braced for a deep global recession due to sweeping lockdowns in many countries.
And the gains of recent days still leave global markets way below the peaks seen in February.
The biggest uncertainty now is how countries can slow the pandemic and how quickly they can lift various curbs on economic activity.
Wall Street extended its deep sell-off Wednesday, and the Dow nearly erased the gains it made under U.S. President Donald Trump...