Global Markets: Asian shares vault to record high as U.S. stimulus seen within reach

(Reuters) – Asian shares climbed to a record high on Friday on growing prospects of a large U.S. economic stimulus package, while hopes that vaccine rollouts will boost the global economy underpinned investor sentiment. In New York, the S&P 500 erased earlier gains after the WSJ reported that Pfizer had slashed the target for the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine due to supply chain obstacles. 

In commodities, oil prices got a lift after OPEC+ agreed to ease their deep oil output cuts from January. They agreed to move to cutting production by 7.2 million compared with current cuts of 7.7million bpd.