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Hong Kong - Asia's markets rebounded 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 rise 1.79% - clawing back some of the losses of more than three percent suffered on Tuesday - Hong Kong added 0.85%, Sydney was up 0.55% and Seoul advanced 0.44%. Shanghai was flat.
The 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 auto sales is taken out of the equation owing to severe cold weather across the country.
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 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 in early Tokyo trade compared with ¥104.20 in New York and much stronger than the ¥103.43 in Asia earlier Tuesday. The euro was trading at ¥142.34 against ¥142.52 but well up from Tuesday's ¥141.27 in Tokyo.
The yen faced added downward pressure from news Japan's current account deficit had ballooned to a record ¥bn in November.
The single currency fetched $1.3661 compared with $1.3677 in New York.
In Tokyo Japan Airlines rose 1.5% despite its announcement that it has grounded one of its Dreamliner jets after discovering "white smoke" apparently coming from a battery system during a check-up for departure.
GS Yuasa, the battery maker that supplies lithium-ion batteries for the planes, slipped 0.9%.
On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February fell two cents to $92.57, while Brent North Sea crude for February tumbled 17c to $106.22.
Gold fetched $1 240.50 at 02:05 GMT compared with $1 249.20 late on Tuesday.
