Asian shares mostly higher after US stocks surge on earnings

Asian shares were mostly higher Friday, cheered by a jump on Wall Street as strong earnings reports from market bellwethers like Microsoft and Comcast gave a confidence boost to investors shaken by the recent wave of selling.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.5 per cent to 21,383.73 in early trading.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 per cent to 5,681.50. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6 per cent at 2,050.13.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up less than 0.1 per cent at 25,006.01, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 per cent to 2,614.43.

The rally wiped out a large part of the market's plunge from the day before.

The S&P 500 index jumped 49.47 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 2,705.57.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 401.13 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 24,984.55 after rising as much as 520 points during the day.

The Nasdaq surged 209.93 points, or 3 per cent, to 7,318.34 after its biggest drop in seven years.

Investors are worried that rising interest rates and disputes with trading partners could hurt economic growth and corporate profits.

They get more insight into how the American economy is doing later in the day when the US government reports on economic growth during the third quarter.

"Asian stocks are set for an uptick in early morning trade following the bounce back on Wall Street," says Oriano Lizza, a trader at CMC Markets in Singapore.

Benchmark US crude fell 52 cents to USD 66.81 a barrel.

Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, dipped 39 cents to USD 76.50.

The dollar climbed to 112.43 yen from 112.27 yen. The euro fell to USD 1.1366 from USD 1.1406.