US rally propels Asia stocks higher

Tokyo's Nikkei index rose 0.36 per cent in the morning, while Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.13 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.43 per cent and Shanghai's Composite index rose 0.45 per cent.

Seoul's Kospi index fell slightly, led by tech stocks, in the wake of Tuesday's brief outbreak of Korean hostilities, losing 0.16 per cent in the morning.

Contributing to Asia's rebound were Japanese exporters such as Sony and Toyota, which jumped on sunnier US economic data and a rise in the dollar overnight, as well as Australian and Chinese resource stocks -- notably Chinese energy giants CNOOC and PetroChina.

"The firming data in the US and perhaps the eurozone give reason to be more upbeat about global risk appetite. However, the situation in European financial markets remains a heavy weight on global risk appetite," Greg Gibbs, currency strategist at RBS in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Wall Street soared on Wednesday as traders set aside global concerns to focus on US economic data that offered a broadly positive picture ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

US unemployment claims fell a more-than-expected 34,000 last week from the previous week to 407,000, continuing a stop-start downward trend.

Another report showed US consumers earned and spent more in October, raising expectations ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.37 per cent, the broader S&P 500 index gained 1.49 per cent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.93 per cent.

The euro stayed under pressure against other currencies in Asia as investors remained wary about eurozone debt problems.

The euro fell back to $1.3318 in Tokyo midday trade from $1.3335 in New York late Wednesday, and to 111.13 yen from 111.32 yen.

The dollar slipped slightly to 83.43 yen from 83.53 yen.

Oil prices hovered after Wednesday's "holiday rally" rounded off the last American working day before Thanksgiving.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, slipped three cents to $83.83 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January lost 22 cents to $85.62 a barrel in London.

Gold opened at $1,373.50-1,374.50 an ounce in Hong Kong, down from Wednesday's close of $1,375.50-1,376.50.