Asian stocks ride Wall St. wave to 18-month peak, pound slips

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Santa came early to Asia's stock markets on Tuesday as trade deal optimism, positive economic signals in China and Wall Street's rally sent shares to an 18-month high, while familiar Brexit worries knocked sterling. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1% to its highest since June 2018. Japan's Nikkei touched its firmest in more than year, while markets from Shanghai to Seoul and Hong Kong all rose by more than a percentage point.Oil hovered near..