Asian Shares Rally on ECB Stimulus

Stocks in Asia rallied after the European Central Bank announced a bond-buying program aimed at shoring up a flagging eurozone economy.

Gains were rippling across the globe, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 up 1.2% and the Nikkei Stock Average up 0.9%. Investors expect that Europe's bond-buying efforts will support money flows to riskier investments, including to stocks. U.S. stocks rose earlier.

The ECB said it would buy 60 billion euros a month in assets including government bonds, debt securities issued by European institutions and private-sector bonds. Its move was largely anticipated although the size of the asset-purchase was larger than many had forecast. Denmark's central bank cut its main interest rate, underscoring how quickly the ECB's move is likely to encourage easing across the region.

A sharp move in crude oil boosted Australian energy stocks. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. was up 2.1% and Santos Ltd. moved 4.7% higher, although airlines fell, with Qantas Airways Ltd. down 0.9% and Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. off 1.1%.

Crude oil jumped on news that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud died , on expectations that a leadership transition in the world's largest oil exporter could lead the kingdom and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to abandon their prior stance and cut production. New York Mercantile Exchange March crude rose by as much as 3% after the announcement, and was up 2.1% at $47.29 a barrel in early Asia trading hours. It had slid overnight to $46.31.

In China, investors await a preliminary reading on manufacturing activity in January by HSBC, in the first indicator of the country's economy for 2015.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up 1.2%.

Write to Chao Deng at [e-mail]

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