Asian stocks rose on Thursday, encouraged by gains on Wall Street, while the New Zealand dollar tumbled to a five-year low after the central bank cut interest rates for the first time in four years. South Korea’s central bank also eased, cutting its rate to a record low 1.50 percent to offset the potential impact of an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 percent.