Stocks stride past US inflation to milestone highs

Asian shares notched seven month highs on Wednesday, on the back of record peaks on Wall Street, as investors mostly shrugged off slightly hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation, betting it won't derail interest rate cuts expected by the middle of the year. A Reuters report earlier in the week that China had asked banks to enhance financial support for developer China Vanke has also put support beneath Hong Kong stocks. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2% to its highest level since early August.