Asia stocks at 19-month peak, dollar up as Yellen puts March rate hike in playAsian stocks scaled 19-month peaks on Wednesday thanks to a record-setting night on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen flagged a possible interest rate hike next month, keeping the dollar in pole position near three-week highs. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.8 percent, rising to its highest since July 2015. Australian stocks climbed 1 percent, South Korea's Kospi .KS11 tacked on 0.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI advanced 1 percent. U.S. interest rate futures FFZ7 implied traders saw about a 41 percent chance of at least three rate increases in 2017, up modestly from a 33 percent chance on Monday, CME Group's FedWatch program showed. The stronger dollar, which puts non-U.S. buyers of dollar-denominated commodities at a disadvantage, weighed on crude oil prices.

Source: VietNamNet News February 15, 2017 03:22 UTC