GLOBAL MARKETS-Japanese stocks jump as yen bows to strong dollar | Agricultural products

* The Nikkei reaches its highest point of a month as the dollar climbs on the yen

* Powell maintains its gradual increases

* Gold drops to a new low a year

by Wayne Cole

SYDNEY Reuters (Reuters) – Asian stocks followed Wall Street on Wednesday, as bullish US central bank's bullish dollar boosted Tokyo equities to one month and sent the gold to a one year trough.

Japan's Nikkei jumped blocks with a 1 percent gain as a weakening yen promised to fatten the profits of the exporters.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan rose 0.16% and South Korea's rose 0.85%.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is satisfied with an optimistic badessment of the US economy while minimizing the impact of global business risks on upside prospects rates.

"The outlook is consistent with two new quarterly rate increases this year, likely in September and December," said Barclays economist Michael Gaspen.

"The main risk is that individuals, businesses and financial markets have underestimated Trump's desire to reorient trade flows and that new tariff enforcement measures are leading to a loss of confidence, a slowdown in recruitment and correction in stock markets, "he added.

BofA Merrill Lynch's latest survey of fund managers showed that a trade war remained the biggest risk cited by no less than 60% of respondents.

For the time being, US companies seem to be taking advantage of declines taxes as the earnings season moves up a gear. Analysts now see S & P 500 earnings growth in the second quarter of 21.2%, up from 20.7% on July 1st.

Of the 39 companies in the index that have reported so far, 84.6% have outpaced Street. The Dow closed Tuesday up 0.22%, while the S & P 500 gained 0.40% and Nasdaq 0.63%.

POUND A PERIL

Powell's support for other rate hikes has pushed Treasury yields to two years to the highest for almost a decade and has greatly increased the dollar.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was up to 95,045, after jumping 0.46% overnight. He also climbed to its highest since January against the yen at 113.07.

The euro was stuck at $ 1.1655 after losing 0.4% on Tuesday.

The pound suffered from a new wave of Brexit annoyances after British Prime Minister Theresa May only erased the last parliamentary hurdle to her plans for departure.

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that a Brexit without an agreement would have "big" economic consequences and would require reviewing plans for higher interest rates.

Sterling was snuggled for the last time at $ 1.3104, after falling 0.9% overnight.

The rise of the US dollar combined with the prospect of higher interest rates in the United States created problems for gold, which collapsed under the influence of main charts to reach its lowest level in a year.

Spot gold was down 1.1% to $ 1,226.91 an ounce, yielding to $ 1,225.58. The slightly less valuable metal is down more than 5% for the year.

Oil prices also eased Wednesday as Brent lost 53 cents to 71.63 dollars a barrel. US crude was quoted down 31 cents to 67.77 dollars a barrel.