Asia stocks sit on weekly gains as yields, oil fall

Sydney, Nov. 17 (BNA): Asian shares took a breather on Friday as a batch of softer U.S. economic data took some of the steam out of Wall Street, but also boosted bonds in a big way while slugging oil prices in a boon for the inflation outlook.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.67% from a two-month high, but still up 2.7% for the week.

Both Brent and U.S. crude slid almost 5% on Thursday to four-month lows.

M.I.