Hong Kong - Asian stock markets mostly pushed higher Tuesday, while the dollar eased after weak data appeared to pour cold water on talk of an early summer US interest rate rise.
The poor figures on US manufacturing and industrial output helped propel Wall Street higher, providing a strong lead for Asia.
Tokyo climbed 0.99 percent, or 190.94 points, to end at a 15-year high of 19,437.00.
Sydney rose 0.77 percent, or 44.4 points, to 5,842.1 after minutes from the Australian central bank's latest meeting suggested it could cut rates again soon.
Shanghai advanced 1.55 percent, or 53.54 points, to 3,502.85 -- its highest close since May 2008 -- and Seoul rallied 2.14 percent, or 42.58 points, to 2,029.91.
However, Hong Kong gave up morning gains to end down 0.20 percent, or 48.06 points, at 23,901.49.
The US's main indexes charged higher Monday after news industrial production in the world's top economy barely rose in February following two consecutive months of declines. The data was only pulled higher by heating demand during unusually cold weather.
Also, manufacturing declined for the third straight month, by 0.2 percent, as automakers curbed output.
The Dow surged 1.29 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.35 percent and the Nasdaq rallied 1.19 percent.
AFP
