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Hong Kong - Asian markets climbed on Thursday, boosted by bargain hunting and a positive lead from Wall Street that came despite a worse-than-expected first quarter contraction in the US economy.
Tokyo rose 0.27% to 15 308.49, Sydney jumped 1.15% to 5 464.3 and Seoul added 0.67% at 1 995.05.
Shanghai ended 0.65%, higher at 2 038.68 and Hong Kong rallied 1.45% to 23 197.83.
With little to drive business, investors picked up cheap stocks after Wednesday's sell-off, with sentiment buoyed by a batch of healthy data this week, including Chinese manufacturing and US homes sales and consumer confidence.
In the United States, the Commerce Department said the world's number one economy shrank a steep 2.9% in the first three months of 2014, sharply worse than the previous estimate of 1.0%.
The figure is the worst since the height of the global financial crisis five years ago. But it was widely brushed off by economists, who described it as a blip caused by the severe winter at the start of the year which hammered, among other things, jobs growth and retail sales.
Most expect a strong rebound over the rest of the year.
On Wall St the Dow added 0.29% and the S&P 500 rose 0.49%, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.68%.
But while the US growth news had no impact on stocks, the dollar came under pressure, with analysts saying it could have a bearing on when the Federal Reserve decides to hike interest rates.
On foreign exchange markets, the dollar bought ¥101.78 compared with ¥101.86 in New York late on Wednesday.
The euro changed hands at $1.3622 and ¥138.66, against $1.3628 and ¥138.82.
Oil prices were mixed after hitting nine-month highs in recent weeks on the back of the Iraq crisis, which sparked fears of a supply bottleneck.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 8 cents to $106.58 a barrel, while European benchmark Brent dropped 20c to $113.80.
While dealers are still tracking events in the Gulf, fears are have eased for now that a militant drive across the country will see its main oil fields taken over.
Gold fetched $1 309.11 an ounce at 13:45 compared with $1 312.60 late on Wednesday.
In other markets:
- Bangkok rose 0.61% to 1 477.48.
Telecoms company Advanced Info Service added 2.79% to 221.00 baht, while oil company PTT rose 2.67% to 308.00 baht.
- Jakarta rose 0.69% to close at 4 872.42.
Palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari rose 1.03% to 29 300 rupiah, while Hero Supermarket fell 0.93% to 2 665 rupiah.
- Manila climbed 0.84% to close at 6 892.18.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 2.0% to 2 958 pesos and Ayala Land added 0.32% to 31.40 pesos.
- Mumbai fell 0.18% to 25 201.80.
Bharat Electronics rose 7.73% to 1 961.35 rupees, while United Spirits slid 7.73% to 2 589.30 rupees.
- Kuala Lumpur was flat, edging down 0.02% to 1 889.97.
Axiata Group shed 0.1% to 6.98 ringgit, while Public Bank lost 0.6% to 19.90. Budget carrier AirAsia gained 2.7% to 2.27 ringgit.
- Singapore rose 0.52% to close at 3 278.57.
Singapore Telecommunications rose 0.26% to Sg$3.88 while Singapore Airlines gained 0.10% at Sg$10.36.
- Taipei advanced 0.85% to 9 320.94.
Smartphone maker HTC rose 1.5% to Tw$134.0 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.81% higher at Tw$124.5.
- Wellington rose 0.50% to 5 130.15.
Trade Me was up 1.16% at NZ$3.49 and Telecom added 0.19% to NZ$2.695.
