Asian stocks advance, take comfort from Yellen's comments

Asian stocks managed to shrug off early losses on Friday and push higher, inspired by gains on Wall Street after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's comments underscored her confidence in the U.S. economy. Yellen's testimony to a Senate committee helped the S&P 500 (.SPX) shrug off fears of rising tension in Ukraine and Russia and close at a record high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent, on track for a weekly gain, while Tokyo's Nikkei stock average (NIK:^9452) erased most losses and ended the morning session just a few ticks shy of flat. Tokyo got some help from data showing Japanese factory output rose in January at the fastest pace in more than two years and core inflation stood close to a five-year high.

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