World shares edged toward six-year highs on Thursday and the yen languished at long-term lows against the euro and dollar after a batch of strong U.S. economic data boosted investor sentiment.

The signs of an improving U.S. jobs market and more cheerful consumers had spurred Wall Street to a record close on Wednesday, while reinforcing talk that the Federal Reserve could start scaling back its stimulus, which supported the dollar.

“Markets have taken on board the view that (U.S.) rates are not going up next year even if they start tapering soon,” said Simon Smith, chief economist at FXPro.

As the buoyant mood spread, Japan’s Nikkei hit its highest close in nearly six years .N225and Asian shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent to reach a one-week high.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX index touched an all-time high while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was up 0.3 percent and on its way to a third straight month of gains.

That was despite the latest proof of the ongoing problems in the euro zone, with data from the European Central Bank showing lending to firms fell 2.1 percent in October, equaling the biggest fall on record.

Shares in Britain’s housebuilders also fell sharply, with more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) wiped off the sector after the Bank of England unexpectedly scaled back a scheme that has been driving up mortgage lending over the last year.

Shares in Barratt Developments (BDEV.L), Britain’s biggest housebuilder by volume, tumbled almost 10 percent while Persimmon’s (PSN.L), the largest builder by market value, fell over 6 percent to leave the FTSE 100 flat .FTSE as it underperformed Europe’s other main bourses.

However, it was not enough to prevent MSCI’s world equity index, which tracks share moves across 45 countries, gaining 0.25 percent as it edged closer to its best level since the start of 2008 .MIWD00000PUS.