Asian shares stay near highs, dollar soft

Asian shares were firm near a three-year high on Tuesday on upbeat Chinese manufacturing data and expectations that U.S. monetary policy will stay loose for some time, while the dollar was broadly soft. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.4 percent while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan erased earlier losses to stand flat, staying within 0.2 percent from a three-year high hit three weeks ago. A string of fairly upbeat but relatively minor U.S. economic data published on Monday did little to weaken expectations, rekindled after surprisingly weak first quarter growth data, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep an easy monetary policy for some time.

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