Asian stocks shrugged off a drop in Wall Street and hovered near three-year highs on Monday, with China taking the lead after data showed a robust jump in profits earned by industrial firms in the world's second-largest economy. The dollar traded near six-months peaks against a basket of major currencies as the euro continued to sag. Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms rose 17.9 percent in June to 588.08 billion yuan ($94.98 billion) from a year earlier, up sharply from an 8.9 percent rise in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Recent data have reinforced market expectations that the Chinese economy ... (full story)