THE local bourse rallied on Friday on a double boost of feel-good news - well-above-trend third- quarter growth numbers from the US, and the Japanese central bank's aggressive move to crank up its monetary stimulus plan to revive the economy.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) jumped nearly 40 points or 1.2 per cent to 3,274.25. The celebratory feel was understandably most pronounced in Japan with the Nikkei 225 soaring 4.8 per cent to close at a seven-year high. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 1.3 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.2 per cent while Australia's ASX 200 climbed 0.9 per cent.

While the upbeat US GDP data - it marked the second consecutive quarter of strong growth, signalling that the recovery of the world's largest economy is on solid ground - was largely expected, the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) decision to expand its asset purchase plan two days after the US Federal Reserve confirmed the end of its five-year asset purchase plan, stunned the market as many had not expected additional easing till early next year. "This is an aggressive decision. Somewhat spookily, the Halloween timing of this easing coincides with when the BoJ intervened aggressively in USD-JPY on October 31 2011," said HSBC Global Research, adding however the BOJ's recent actions are not solely focused on the currency.