Investing.com - Asian shares rose on Thursday with markets awaiting China GDP and industrial production in a day that followed on from sharp Wall Street gains.
In Japan the Nikkei 225 rose 0.43% with energy-related stocks, automakers and banking names trading mixed. Of note, index heavyweight SoftBank Group declined 0.46%. The Nikkei 225 touched a 26-year high earlier this week and has risen more than 3% so far this year.
The S&P/ASX 200 traded higher by 0.07%, with gains driven by the heavily-weighted financials sector. Australia's "Big Four" banks all traded higher on the day: Westpac climbed 1.31% and ANZ rose 0.78%.
Australia said the economy added 34,700 jobs in December, well above an expected gain of 9,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5% from a steady 5.4% level expected as the participation rate rose to 65.7% from 65.5%.
China reports fourth quarter GDP on Thursday that is expected to show a 6.7% gain on year and a 1.6% rise on quarter. In the third quarter, GDP rose 6.8% on year and 1.7% on quarter.
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.58%.
As well, in China industrial production is expected to post a 6.0% gain on year in December from 6.1% in November and retail sales are seen up 10.1% on year in December, compared to 10.2% in November.
Overnight, Wall Street rebounded on Wednesday, reversing losses sustained a day earlier, closing at all-time record highs as investors cheered bullish earnings from corporates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 26,115.65. The S&P 500 closed 0.94% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7298.28, down 1.03%.
Bank of America (NYSE:NYSE:BAC), and US Bancorp (NYSE:NYSE:USB) reported earnings that topped expectations on both the top and bottom lines, while Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) posted its first quarterly loss since 2011.
Bullish earnings offset investor concerns over the prospect of a government shutdown amid reports that Democrats and Republicans may not be able to reach a deal on a crucial immigration bill by Friday. The immigration bill has been the main sticking point preventing progress on a spending bill, which needs to be passed by end of Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
A mixed bag of economic reports on industrial production and manufacturing, meanwhile, did little to dampen investor expectations for solid economic growth amid the release of the Fed’s beige book showing that the outlook on economic growth for 2018 remained “optimistic.”
Industrial output surged 0.9% in December last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% rise, while manufacturing output rose just 0.1% in December, falling short of expectations for a 0.3% rise.
In corporate news, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AAPL) said it would ramp up capital expenditure and vowed to create 20,000 new jobs as it seeks to take advantage of recent tax reform measures, one of which requires companies to pay a one-time tax on foreign-held earnings whether they intend to bring them back to the United States or not.