Asian shares mostly higher

Hong Kong - Asia's markets mostly rose on Wednesday after a surprisingly strong batch of retail data out of the United States eased concerns about the world's number one economy.

The better-than-forecast figures provided a springboard for a rally on Wall Street and gave some support for the dollar against the yen.

Tokyo led gainers to surge 2.50% - its best performance of 2014 helping it claw back some of the losses of more than three percent suffered on Tuesday.

The Nikkei ended 386.33 points higher at 15 808.73.

Retail sales

Sydney rose 0.64%, or 33.4 points, to 5 245.4 and Seoul added 0.37%, or 7.21 points, to 1 953.28.

Hong Kong ended 0.49% higher, adding 110.72 points, to 22 902.00, but Shanghai closed down 0.17%, or 3.49 points, at 2 023.35.

The US Commerce Department said retail sales -- a key gauge of the consumer spending that drives the economy -- rose 0.2% in December, upending estimates of no change.

That figure is an even more impressive 0.7% if a sharp fall in vehicle sales is taken out of the equation because of the severe cold weather across the country.

Jobs report

Tuesday's figure boosted Wall Street's main indexes, with the Dow jumping 0.71%, the S&P 500 up 1.08% and the Nasdaq adding 1.69%.

It also soothed concerns about the world's number one economy after Friday's disappointing jobs report that had fuelled speculation that the Federal Reserve could hold off announcing any further cuts to its stimulus programme when it meets later this month.

"A gradual US economic recovery and an incremental tapering (of US monetary stimulus) will likely continue," Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, told Dow Jones newswires.

Currency traders moved back into the dollar after it sank on Friday and Monday after the jobs report.

The dollar bought 104.30 yen in afternoon Tokyo trade compared with 104.20 in New York and much stronger than the 103.43 yen in Asia earlier on Tuesday.

The euro was trading at 142.30 yen against 142.52 yen but well up from the 141.27 yen Tuesday in Tokyo.

North Sea crude

The yen faced added downward pressure from news Japan's current account deficit had ballooned to a record 592.8 billion yen in November.

The single currency fetched $1.3640 compared with $1.3677 in New York.

Gold fetched $1 239.10 early on Wednesday compared with $1,249.20 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

-- Bangkok lost 1.45%, or 18.84 points, to 1 277.03.

Coal producer Banpu dropped 4.46% to 26.75 baht, while Airports of Thailand gained 4.08% to 166.00 baht.

-- Jakarta gained 1.16%, or 50.82 points, to 4 441.60.

Mobile provider Indosat added 6.18% to 4 295 rupiah, while paper firm Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia fell 3.63% to 1 725 rupiah.

-- Kuala Lumpur lost 0.60%, or 10.94 points, to 1 824.03.

Financial firm CIMB Group Holdings shed 2.9% to 7.09 ringgit, while palm oil giant Sime Darby fell 1.0% to 9.21.

-- Taipei rose 0.64%, or 54.41 points, to 8 602.55.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing added 1.45%  to Tw$105.0 while leading chip design house MediaTek was 0.84% higher at Tw$419.0.

-- Manila added 0.38%, or 22.56 points, to 5 958.12.

Ayala added 1.24% to close at 530 pesos and Aboitiz Equity Ventures rose 2.26% at 54.20 pesos.

-- Mumbai jumped 1.22%, or 256.61 points, to 21 289.49.

Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro rose 2.7% to 998.8 rupees while private ICICI Bank rose 2.00% to 1 058.35 rupees.

-- Singapore climbed 0.62%, or 19.50 points, to 3 143.25.

Oil rig maker Keppel dropped 0.09% to Sg$10.85 while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation gained 0.31% to Sg$9.73.

-- Wellington jumped 0.98%, or 47.88 points, to 4 913.03.