Mfarhanonline Business News 
HONG KONG: Asian stocks rose Thursday after another Wall Street rally was sparked by comments from Fed chief Ben Bernanke that the bank had no timetable to hike interest rates.
The news, however, sent the dollar tumbling against the euro although it held up against the yen after Wednesday”s announcement by Standard and Poor”s that it had lowered its outlook on Japan”s sovereign debt.
Tokyo rose 1.42 percent in the afternoon, Hong Kong added 0.50 percent by the break and Sydney gained 0.40 percent. Seoul added 0.10 percent and Shanghai remained flat.
Markets took their lead from Wall Street, where the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped to its highest level since 2000 while the Dow and SP 500 hit three-year highs after the Fed kept rates at a record low 0-0.25 percent “for an extended period”.
Bernanke said that level “should essentially remain constant going forward from June”.
The Federal Reserve, citing the economy”s “moderate” recovery, also kept the door open for a wider economic stimulus, while saying its current $600 billion programme would be allowed to run its forecast course through June.
Dealers welcomed the news as evidence that the central bank will continue to support the economy as it recovers from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
“The comments from Bernanke are very bullish for equity markets, via a weak US dollar, US earnings and commodity prices,” RBS Morgans investment adviser Chris MacDonald in Sydney told Dow Jones Newswires.
The dollar tumbled against the euro, hitting $1.4863 in Asian trade, from $1.4785 late in New York on Wednesday. It jumped more than a cent after the Fed announcement. The US unit also fell to 81.79 yen from 82.15 yen, although the yen was weighed by SP”s warning the previous day that it could downgrade Japan”s credit rating in light of the huge economic impact of last month”s earthquake-tsunami and nuclear crisis. The euro rose to 121.61 yen from 121.39. (AFP)
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