Asian shares climb on US data, oil pressured before OPEC meet

Australian dollar languishes near four-year lows against the dollar

Asian stocks edged up on Wednesday after data showing the US economy growing at a relatively solid pace calmed investor anxiety over slowing global growth, while the Australian dollar languished near four-year lows against the dollar.

Oil prices were also under pressure as major oil producing nations failed to agree on curbs to output ahead of an OPEC meeting on Thursday.

The US government upgraded its reading on third quarter gross domestic product to 3.9% on Tuesday from 3.5% reported last month. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth would be cut to 3.3%.

"The gap between actual and estimated third quarter GDP was a big one, but what is of increasing import is the gap between the economy of the US and the rest of the world especially Europe and Japan," Jasper Lawler, analyst at CMC Markets, said in a note.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3%. South Korea's Kospi tacked on 0.1% and Australian shares rose 0.9%.

Tokyo's Nikkei retreated 0.3%, weighed by the yen's bounce.

The dollar remained on the defensive against the yen as the encouraging GDP news was partially offset by an unexpected drop in US consumer confidence, which also pushed US Treasury yields lower.

The greenback was down 0.1% at 117.82 yen, pulling further away from a seven-year high of 118.98 reached the previous week.

The euro was little changed at $1.2477.

In contrast, the Australian dollar hovered near a four-year low of $0.8514. The Aussie has been under pressure amid the recent tumble in the price of iron ore, Australia's key export commodity.

"The AUD sits squarely at the bottom of the G10 pack in the past 24 hours and heading into the NY close, with a fresh slide in iron ore prices, now to below $70 for the first time since June 2009, adding pressure," said Ray Attrill, global co-head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.

Crude oil extended losses after a meeting of Saudi Arabia and three other nations ahead of Thursday's closely-watched OPEC summit ended with no deal to curb crude output. 

US crude was down 32 cents at $73.77 a barrel, near a four-year low of $73.25 hit a little more than a week ago.