AFP, Hong Kong :
Asian markets enjoyed a healthy rally Wednesday following positive manufacturing data from the United States and Europe, while Tokyo was also boosted as the dollar pushed towards the 104-yen level.
Traders were given a strong lead from New York, where the S&P 500 closed at another record high, while attention turns to the release Friday of a closely watched US jobs report.
Tokyo climbed 1.04 percent, or 154.33 points, to close at 14,946.32, Seoul rose 0.26 percent, or 5.27 points, to close at 1,997.25 and Sydney added 0.26 percent, or 14.1 points, to close at 5,403.3.
In the afternoon Hong Kong was 0.15 percent higher and Shanghai put on 0.29 percent. Global shares broadly swung up on Tuesday following the release of upbeat reports on manufacturing in China, Europe and the United States.
Beijing said at the start of the trading day that its official purchasing managers index (PMI) had ticked up in March after hitting an eight-month low in February, beating expectations.
Markit Economics said its eurozone PMI for March stood at 53.0. The figure is down from February’s 53.2 but the average reading over the first quarter as a whole was 53.4, which it said was the “the best outcome since the second quarter of 2011”.
A reading above 50 denotes expansion while anything below points to contraction.
