Global Markets: Asia shares rest at highs, sterling licks wounds

Asian stocks took a breather at 18-month peaks on Wednesday having climbed for five straight sessions, while the British pound was licking its wounds as revived Brexit fears came back to bite it. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dead flat in thin early trade, just off its highest since June last year.

Japan`s Nikkei dipped 0.1% and away from its 2019 top, while Korean shares edged up 0.1% to an eight-month peak. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were little changed. Upbeat economic news had helped the S&P 500 reach a record for the fourth straight session, building on its 27% gain this year. The Dow ended Tuesday up 0.19%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.07% and the Nasdaq 0.11%.

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U.S. housing starts were surprisingly strong in November, and building permits rose to the highest level since May 2007. Manufacturing output picked up more than expected as a strike at General Motors Co ended.

A run of better data recently has helped calm fears of recession while the phase one Sino-U.S. deal on trade seems to have lifted some of the uncertainty on the global outlook.

The sea change was clear in Bofa Global Research`s latest survey of fund managers with recession concerns diving 33 percentage points to a net 68% of investors saying a recession is now unlikely in 2020.

Global growth expectations jumped 22 percentage points, marking the biggest 2-month rise on record. As a result, funds` allocation to global equities climbed 10 percentage points to a net 31% overweight, the highest level in a year.