Global stock indexes hit all-time highs on Friday after China's central bank lowered interest rates and injected liquidity into its banking system and U.S. inflation continued to ease, while Treasury yields dipped.

The People's Bank of China followed its announcement of wide-ranging policy easing on Tuesday with a cut to medium-term lending rates to banks on Wednesday. Beijing's broad-based stimulus - the biggest since the pandemic - also includes steps to boost China's stock market and support for the ailing property sector.

Emerging markets' stocks climbed to their highest since April 2022 on Tuesday after China introduced new measures to boost its sluggish economy.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms and China-focused funds jumped on Friday and are set for another day of strong gains, aided by the latest in a line of aggressive stimulus measures to propel economic growth in the world's second-largest economy.

(Reuters) - UK shares slipped on Wednesday, retracing gains from the previous session, as investors questioned whether the optimism over extensive stimulus measures in China was overdone. At 0715 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.3%.

China stocks closed out their best week since 2008 as the country's central bank cut its reserve requirement for banks.

UK shares edged higher on Friday, ahead of a key U.S. inflation print for signals on the scope of Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, and the market was set for weekly gains as China's aggressive stimulus measures lifted mining and luxury stocks.