Increase in Asian stocks

Asian stocks rose on Thursday amid fresh signs of resilience in the U.S. economy, while the euro wallowed near two-year lows before a much anticipated European Central Bank meeting that could open the door to more stimulus.

Tokyo’s Nikkei climbed 0.8 percent to near 7-1/2-year highs, with sentiment buoyed by media projections suggesting a strong win for Japanese premier Shinzo Abe’s coalition at the Dec. 14 election. A victory for Abe could lead to a new mandate for his “Abenomics” policies to revive the economy.

“There’s activity in anticipation of extremely promising conditions being born,” said Hiroyuki Nakai, chief strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co in Tokyo.

Denisha Sahadevan