Sydney: Japanese shares hit a six-month top on Tuesday as the dollar advanced on the yen, while risk sentiment got a lift after factory surveys in the United States and Europe boasted the best readings of the year so far.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8 per cent to its highest since late April as a softening yen burnished the outlook for the country's exporters. Australian stocks added 0.6 per cent and Taiwan 0.3 per cent.
Markets elsewhere were more mixed, leaving MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS flat.
South Korea's main index slipped 0.6 per cent after data showed Samsung Electronic's decision to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 dragged on the entire economy in the third quarter, though growth still pipped forecasts.
Wall Street had taken encouragement from upbeat corporate results and the Dow ended Monday up 0.46 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.47 percent and the Nasdaq 0.91 per cent.
Over one third of US companies have now reported and 80 percent have beaten market expectations. Another third of the S&P 500 components are scheduled to report earnings this week, including heavyweights Apple, Alphabet Amazon and Boeing.
Merger and acquisition activity added an extra fizz in the wake of AT&T Inc's $85.4 billion bid for Time Warner Inc though the deal seemed destined to face stringent scrutiny from regulators.
Aiding risk sentiment was the Markit survey of US manufacturing which climbed to a one-year top of 53.2. Business activity in the euro zone also expanded at the fastest pace this year so far in October and firms raised prices at the sharpest rate in more than five years.
The better news led investors to nudge up the probability of a December rate hike from the Federal Reserve to around 74 per cent and pressured Treasury prices.
It also lifted the US dollar to a nine-month high against a basket of major currencies at 98.846. The dollar firmed on the yen to 104.43, threatening the month's peak at 104.62, while the euro struggled at $1.0870.
