By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S.-listed shares of foreigncompanies rose on Thursday as investors bet that the FederalReserve's stimulus would remain intact, while Japanese stocksrebounded in New York trading.
Equities have been closely tethered to central bank monetarypolicy this year. A round of weak economic data in the UnitedStates was viewed as a sign that the economy continued tostruggle, meaning that the Fed wouldn't begin tapering itsstimulus soon, as had been feared.
The BNY Mellon index of leading American depositary receipts rose 0.6 percent, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.5 percent. The BNY Mellon index of leading EuropeanADRs gained 0.6 percent. The bank's Latin American ADRindex added 0.5 percent.
The BNY Mellon index of leading Asian ADRs climbed0.7 percent, a sharp contract from weakness in Asian markets.
Japan's Nikkei, which closed before the release ofthe U.S. data, shed 5.2 percent, far exceeding a 0.3 percentdrop in Chinese shares.
While shares in Asia declined on concerns about less centralbank stimulus, losses were wider in Japan following a Reutersreport that the country's public pension fund is considering achange to its portfolio strategy that could let its investmentin domestic stocks grow with a rallying market.
According to sources familiar with the deliberations, theGovernment Pension Investment Fund could be forced to buyJapanese government bonds, as well as sell Japanese stocks in anequity market that has rallied more than 60 percent sinceNovember.
The most active Japanese ADRs rebounded in New York afterfalling on their local exchange. Sony Corp rose 3.8percent to $20.86 while Toyota Motor shot up 0.8 percentto $120.56. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbed 1percent to $6.05.