Tokyo — Asian stocks gained on Thursday after Wall Street brushed aside strong US inflation data and surged, in a move that also saw the dollar pinned at two-week lows even as treasury yields jumped in anticipation of more rapid US interest rate increases. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1%. Australian stocks climbed 0.9% and South Korea’s Kospi added 1.1%. Japan’s Nikkei advanced 1.3% following three successive days of losses that took it to a four-month low the previous day. Wall Street surged on Wednesday, with the Dow up 1% and the S&P 500 climbing 1.34%, as investors shrugged off the stronger than expected inflation data and snapped up shares of Facebook, Amazon.com and Apple. US consumer prices rose more than forecast in January as Americans paid more for petrol, rental accommodation and healthcare, further raising inflation concerns and the prospect of the Federal Reserve increasing interest rates more than initially expected. That drove US tre...
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