By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Thursday, taking early cues from Wall Street gains overnight, as receding worries of near-term U.S. interest rate hikes continued to buoy risk sentiment.
The dollar hovered near seven-week lows versus the euro as cautious comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen earlier in the week on monetary tightening continued to resonate.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.4 percent. Australian stocks <.AXJO> added 1.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei <.N225> rose 0.7 percent.
Investor risk appetite has increased since Fed Chair Yellen said on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank should proceed cautiously as it looks to hike rates, pushing back against some colleagues who have suggested another move may be just around the corner.
Yellen's views were echoed by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, who said on Wednesday there was a high hurdle to raising rates in April, given low inflation.
Following such cautious views from top Fed officials, the Dow <.DJI> climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 <.SPX> rose 0.4 percent overnight. The CBOE Market Volatility Index <.VIX>, Wall Street's "fear gauge", ended down 1.9 percent at its lowest level since August. [.N]
"Global markets are likely to be dominated by month- and quarter-end flows today as markets await tomorrow's U.S. Institute of Supply Management data, non-farm payrolls and global purchasing managers' indexes, particularly that of China," wrote strategists at ANZ.
In currencies, the euro was steady at $1.1335 >, not far from Wednesday's seven-week peak of $1.1365. The dollar dipped 0.1 percent to 112.36 yen >.
The greenback's recent weakness has been a boon to the Australian and New Zealand dollars, which both soared to nine-month highs.
Crude oil prices dipped after U.S. government data showed crude inventories were again at all-time peaks despite strong refinery runs.
U.S. crude
Oil prices, which fell to 12-year lows earlier this year, have risen about 50 percent since mid-February after major producers floated the idea of freezing production at January's highs. Some analysts say the rally has breached fundamentals and crude could trade lower.
(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Eric Meijer)
