Asian stocks get a boost at the end of the week following dovish comments from New York Federal Reserve president John Williams and Federal Reserve vice-chairman Richard Clarida about a possible rate cut later this month. Tensions in the Gulf bump oil prices higher following the taking down of an Iranian drone by a US Navy vessel. In corporate news, Microsoft shares soar to a record high following a 12 per cent rise in Q4 sales fuelled by its cloud service. Meanwhile, Boeing will take a near-$5bn tax hit as a result of the on-going grounding of its troubled 737 Max planes.

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