Asian markets mostly rose on Wednesday following recent losses despite a fall on Wall Street at the start of the US corporate earnings season.
The dollar and euro also picked up against the yen, providing strong support for the Nikkei index.
Tokyo rose 0.49 per cent by the break, Hong Kong gained 0.51 per cent, Sydney was 0.39 per cent higher and Seoul was up 0.10 per cent but Shanghai was 0.20 per cent off.
Regional markets bounced back after a recent sell-off fuelled by profit-taking but traders were given a negative lead from Wall Street despite a positive start to the earnings season.
Aluminium giant Alcoa posted a profit of US$242 million in the three months to December, compared with a year-earlier loss of US$191 million.
The company also stayed in the black for the full year, despite aluminium prices falling 12 per cent.
However, the Dow fell 0.41 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.32 per cent and the Nasdaq shed 0.23 per cent.
