Asian shares end higher with China pacing the advance

Asian shares ended higher on Tuesday, boosted by strength in the US session, where the Dow and S&P 500 hit all-time highs as dovish comments from Federal Reserve member Charles Evans underpinned hopes that the Fed will hold off on any rate hikes for a while longer

In a speech in Stockholm, Evans said the outlook for economic growth and the jobs market in the US is “good” but inflation is “too low” and has been for the last six years.

“The Fed should refrain from raising the federal funds rate until there is much greater confidence that inflation one or two years ahead will be at our 2% target,” he said. “I see no compelling reason for us to be in a hurry to tighten financial conditions until then.”

Chinese stocks were the standout gainers, with the Shanghai Composite index closing up 3.1% at 4,417.55, after the government set out guidelines to reform its economic system in 2015.

Announcing a range of new growth measures, China’s cabinet said the country needs to deepen the economic system reform this year by opening up the financial sector to foreign and domestic investors, expanding capital markets and intensifying the reform of state-owned enterprises.

Infrastructure-related stocks racked up healthy gains, with China Railway Group and China Railway Construction both in the black after Beijing approved $40bn of rail and subway projects to help boost the economy.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ended up 0.7% at 20,026.38, above the 20,000 mark for the first time in nearly three weeks, supported by a weaker yen and the record close on Wall Street.

Australian shares bucked the trend, with the ASX 200 ending down 0.8% at 5,615, although stocks pared losses into the close after the latest minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed that it has left the door open to cut interest rates further it needed.