Asia stocks mostly up ahead of ECB meeting

Hong Kong - Asian markets extended their rally this week, while the euro edged up marginally ahead of a much-anticipated European Central Bank policy meeting.

For a second straight session Japanese shares bucked the regional trend as a third day of gains on Wall Street was overshadowed by a pick-up in the yen against the dollar.

Hong Kong added 0.52%, Sydney added 0.59%, Seoul put on 0.34% and Shanghai put on 0.50%, but Tokyo eased 0.10%.

Eyes are firmly on the meeting later Thursday of the ECB, with expectations high that it will unveil a programme of asset-purchasing, or quantitative easing (QE) similar to that recently ended in the United States.

Speculation has been rife for several months that more stimulus would be announced as inflation continues to weaken - last month prices actually fell in December for the first time in five years.

According to analysts at UniCredit, the market is expecting the ECB to unveil a programme worth between €500bn and €800bn.

Wall Street took its rally into a third day Wednesday, the Dow ending up 0.22%, the S&P 500 adding 0.47% and the Nasdaq 0.27% higher.

With traders placing bets on a vast round of monetary easing the euro has been hammered in the past few weeks, and at one point last week fell below $1.1500 for the first time since late 2003.

However Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at the currency brokerage Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington, told Bloomberg News the single currency had seen a pick-up ahead of the bank decision.

In morning trade the euro bought $1.1613 and ¥136.96 compared with $1.1607 and ¥136.85 in US trade.

"With expectations for additional policy easing by the ECB tomorrow currently so high, any disappointment in the result could see a violent rally in the euro as investors rush to cover short positions in the single currency," Esiner said.

The dollar was ¥117.86 against ¥117.90 in New York.

Oil prices resumed their downtrend after enjoying a rare fillip Wednesday. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery fell 41 cents to $47.37 and Brent shed 14c to $48.89.

On Wednesday WTI jumped $1.31 and Brent climbed $1.04.

Gold fetched $1 290.08 an ounce, against $1 300.64 late on Wednesday.