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Hong Kong - Asia's markets mostly rose on Thursday following a record-breaking close on Wall Street as investors welcomed fresh US data and an upbeat Federal Reserve report on the economy.
The dollar also resumed its uptrend against the yen, while the Australian dollar sank against the greenback in response to a weak jobs report.
Tokyo fell 0.39%, or 61.53 points to 15 747.20, giving up earlier gains on profit-taking after Wednesday's strong rally, while Seoul rose 0.21%, or 4.04 points, to end at 1 957.32.
Closed flat
Sydney jumped 1.21%, or 63.7 points, to 5 309.1 as an upbeat output report from resources giant Rio Tinto lifted commodities shares, offsetting the soft jobs figures.
Hong Kong added 0.37%, or 84.41 points to 22 986.41 and Shanghai closed flat, edging up 0.35 points to 2 023.70.
Investor confidence was given a boost by an all-time high close for the S&P 500 -- its first record of the new year -- after a positive report on the US economy from the Federal Reserve.
The central bank said in its "Beige Book" that the economy grew at a "moderate" pace across most regions at the end of 2013, with muted price and wage rises.
Above estimates
The survey, covering the end of November and December, showed hiring in most areas was slow but steady, "with few instances of rapid growth but very few reports of staff cuts or plant closings".
The New York Federal Reserve bank said manufacturing activity picked up in New York state during December, while the labour department said its producer price index rose 0.4% in the same month, slightly above estimates.
The news came a day after better-than-expected data on December retail sales and helped to soothe concerns about the economy after Friday's worse-than-forecast jobs report.
On Wall Street the S&P 500 climbed 0.52% to a fresh record high of 1 848.38, while the Dow gained 0.66% and the Nasdaq added 0.76%.
Currency traders moved back into the dollar after being scared off by the surprisingly weak US payrolls figures last week.
Released data
In afternoon trade the greenback bought 104.72 yen compared with 104.59 yen late in New York and well up from the 104.40 yen in Asia earlier on Wednesday.
The euro bought $1.3610 and 142.54 yen early on Thursday compared with $1.3606 and 142.29 yen.
The dollar also jumped against its Australian counterpart after Canberra released data showing the unemployment rate was unmoved but the economy shed 22 600 jobs in December.
The Australian dollar fell to 88.03 US cents, near a three-year low touched earlier in the day, from 89.03c on Wednesday as the weak figures increased the likelihood the central bank will cut interest rates to kick-start a stuttering economy.
Oil prices were holding steady in mid-morning Asian trade on Thursday, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February down eight cents at $94.09 and Brent North Sea crude for February down $1.26 at $105.87.
Gold fetched $1 238.60 early on Thursday compared with $1 239.10 late on Wednesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei ended up 0.11%, or 9.56 points, at 8 612.11.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing rose 1.9% to Tw$107.0 while smartphone maker HTC fell 3.25% to Tw$134.0.
-- Wellington gained 0.17%, or 8.26 points, to 4 921.29.
Telecom gained 1.25% to NZ$2.43 and Air New Zealand added 0.6% to NZ$1.70, while clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson Holdings tumbled 17.7% to NZ$3.50 after it reported a massive drop in sales in December.
-- Manila added 0.40%, or 24.12 points, to end at 5 982.24.
