Asia shares climb after Yellen stimulus remarks

TOKYO: Asian markets mostly rose Thursday on hopes the woman tipped to head the Federal Reserve will keep its stimulus programme in place, while Tokyo led gains after growth data beat forecasts.

The dollar bounced back against the yen after a sell-off in New York, while Wall Street provided another strong lead with record finishes for the Dow and S&P 500 indexes.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.14 percent, Hong Kong was 0.53 percent higher, Sydney advanced 1.03 percent and Seoul was 0.16 percent higher.

But Shanghai dipped 0.32 percent, extending losses from the previous day owing to disappointment at a reform plan set out by China's leadership Tuesday.

Investors were cheered by dovish comments from Janet Yellen, nominated to succeed Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve, as she prepares to face a Senate grilling.

In remarks prepared for Thursday's hearing, Yellen, the current Fed vice chair, signalled her support for continuing the central bank's $85 billion-a-month bond-buying until the economy shows signs of a firm recovery.

She said unemployment at 7.3 percent was too high and reflected an economy running "far short" of its potential. When unveiling the scheme in September last year the bank said it would only start winding it down when the economy was strong enough.

The comments weighed on the dollar in New York, sending it down to 99.14 yen from 99.62 on Tuesday.

But in early Tokyo trade it edged up to 99.45 yen Thursday.

And the euro fetched $1.3475 and 134.00 yen compared with $1.3492 and 133.73 yen on Wednesday in New York.

The weaker yen provided support to the Nikkei, which was already higher after Japan released data showing the economy grew 1.9 percent on an annualised basis in the July-September quarter.

While the figure was half the 3.8 percent seen in the previous three months, it was up from a 1.7 percent expansion predicted by economists.

The weaker growth comes on the back of falling demand in emerging markets -- which have been hit by uncertainty over the US stimulus -- while consumption at home has also softened and energy import costs have shot up because of the weaker yen.

On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for December delivery, was down 23 cents at $93.65 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for December gained three cents to $107.15.

Gold fetched $1,284.95 per ounce at 0230 GMT compared with $1,276.50 on Wednesday. (AFP)