Oil's drop chills Asia stocks, inflation data boosts dollar

Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday as a sharp overnight pullback in crude oil prices dampened risk appetite, while the dollar was firm after upbeat U.S. data tilted expectations back toward an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Strong factory ouput data and a weaker yen pushed Tokyo's Nikkei to a fresh 15-year high but the market was last flat as profit taking kicked in. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent after advancing to a five-month high on Wednesday.

via Business News http://ift.tt/1AzThQC