Asian shares and currencies rallied broadly on Thursday after the Federal Reserve stunned markets and decided not to taper its asset-buying program, sending U.S. bond yields and the dollar into a tailspin.
With U.S. stocks at a fresh record high, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 0.9 percent to its highest in almost four months.
Australia's main index gained 1.1 percent .AXJO to a five-year high and Japan's Nikkei managed to brush aside a rise in the yen to climb 0.8 percent to a two-month peak.
The prospect that U.S. rates could stay low for longer was further underlined by news from the White House that noted-dove Janet Yellen was the front-runner to take over the Fed when Ben Bernanke steps down.
