Asian shares higher on strong lead from Wall Street

Asian shares headed higher on Wednesday, getting a strong lead from Wall Street where rising oil prices led to a rebound in the market. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes both gained over 1% as oil prices rallied overnight to climb by around 3% after Monday's declines. Encouraging economic data such as housing and consumer confidence in the US also boosted investor sentiment. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6% to 19,097.14 in the year's final trading day. Japanese markets will be closed on Thursday for a public holiday. Rest of Asia In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.7% to 5,304.20, leading the gains in the region. But commodity shares still weighed on the market with shares of mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto down 0.9% and 0.4% respectively. Chinese shares were barely unchanged with the Shanghai Composite trading flat at 3,565.77, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.1% to 22,016.92. South Korea's Kospi index was higher by 0.1% to 1,967.60 points. Investors ignored data that showed industrial production saw its worst decline in 10 months in November on slumping global demand for exports. Factory output fell a seasonally adjusted 2.1% from a month earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

Japanese shares lead Asia's gains in early trade

It was a mixed picture for Asian shares at the start of a week shortened by holidays, amid quiet trade as Japanese shares lead the region's gains. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1% to 18,792.67 despite economic data painting a gloomier picture of the world's third largest economy. Data showed Japan's factory output fell 1% in November from the previous month, marking the first fall in three months. Retail sales also fell below forecasts and declined 1% from a year ago. Japan's economy narrowly avoided a recession in the third quarter and economists are expecting only modest growth in the current one. Advertisement Shares of Sharp, however, were up more than 7% on reports that the struggling consumer electronics firm has received a purchase offer from Taiwan's electronics supplier Hon Hai Precision. Chinese shares were mixed in early trade with the Shanghai Composite flat at 3,629.19, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 0.3% to 22,063.11. In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.4% at 1,983.42 points. The Australian market is closed for a public holiday.