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Oil's drop chills Asian stocks, inflation data boosts dollar
Asian shares pulled further away from a five-month high on Friday as a sharp pullback in crude oil prices dampened risk appetite, though Japanese stocks crawled to a fresh 15-year peak after the dollar surged against the yen overnight. The dollar's strength followed upbeat U.S. data, which tilted expectations back toward an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS slipped 0.3 percent after advancing to a five-month high on Wednesday. In a mixed day for the region, South Korean shares fell after a seven-day rally and Malaysian and Thai ... (full story)