HONG KONG - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, with Shanghai posting small gains after data showed China's inflation easing slightly and investment surging, while a weaker yen sent Tokyo higher.
Technology plays were in positive territory after Microsoft announced it would buy Internet phone pioneer Skype.
Shanghai was up 0.13 per cent, Hong Kong ended the morning 0.30 per cent higher and Tokyo gained 0.47 per cent in the afternoon while Sydney added 0.95 per cent. Seoul gained one per cent.
Shanghai moved into positive territory after Beijing said inflation edged down to 5.3 per cent in April, slightly off the 32-month high 5.4 per cent posted in March but higher that forecasts of 5.2 per cent.
However, it also said fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 25.4 per cent year on year in the first four months of 2011.
Retail sales, the main gauge of consumer spending in the world's second-largest economy, rose 17.1 per cent in April from a year ago.
The figures provided a mixed message and are unlikely to ease concerns of fresh monetary tightening by Beijing as it tries to keep price rises at its target of four per cent for the whole year.
China has raised interest rates four times since October and issued numerous orders for banks to set aside more of their deposits as reserves, amid concerns that rising prices could cause social unrest.
"The market lacks strong upward momentum as inflation remains high while the economy is cooling," Capital Securities analyst Li Bin told Dow Jones Newswires.
Markets were extending broad gains on Tuesday amid rising confidence in the global economy and following a 0.60 per cent rise on the Dow and a hike of 0.81 per cent on the S&P 500.
The tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.01 per cent, boosted by Microsoft's $8.5 billion cash purchase of Skype, its largest-ever acquisition.
Tokyo was lifted by hopes for upcoming earnings results from Toyota and the weakening yen, which slipped to 80.87 yen against the dollar in early trade from 80.37 yen late Tuesday in New York.
The Japanese unit gained to 116.50 versus the euro from 116.54. The euro fetched $1.4405, compared with $1.4410 in New York.
The euro managed to hold up as the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank began an audit of finances and reforms in Greece to determine if it merits a critical new slice of funding from a bailout agreed last year.
The meeting came as a top ECB official warned that a debt default or restructuring for Athens would hit the entire eurozone.
A restructuring would put Greece's banking system "on its knees," Lorenzo Bini Smaghi told the Italian daily La Stampa.
On oil markets New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose 14 cents to $104.02 a barrel in morning trade.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery gained 23 cents to $117.86.
Gold opened at $1,520.00-$1,521.00 an ounce in Hong Kong up from Monday's finish of $1,506.00-$1,507.00. Gold markets were closed on Tuesday.
