World stocks are eyeing a return to record highs at the end of the longest government shutdown on record, while an increasingly squeezed Japanese yen hit a record low versus the euro and a nine-month trough against the dollar.

Europe's STOXX 600 made a steady start with a near one per cent jump from France's CAC 40 nudging both indexes to all-time peaks and offsetting a more than four per cent dive from German engineering giant Siemens after it reported underwhelming earnings.

US stock futures meandered from slightly negative to 0.2 per cent firmer, although MSCI's 47-country All World Index was firmly on course for its fourth consecutive daily gain as it edged to within 4 points of October's all-time high.

US President Donald Trump signed the bill to end the government's shutdown in th

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