New Delhi, Feb. 15 -- Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with the Nikkei breaching a new 34-year peak, while the dollar took a breather near a three-month high as markets assess when the Federal Reserve is likely to start its easing cycle after a run of strong economic data. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7%, with the IT index surging more than 2%. Taiwan stocks spiked 2.6% higher, with chipmaker TSMC up nearly 8%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased 0.67% in early trading. China's markets are closed for the week due to the Lunar New Year holidays. On Wednesday, Wall Street ended sharply higher as ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber rallied, while Nvidia displaced Alphabet as the U.S. stock market's third-most ...