Asian shares gain in busy data day with Australia up on higher oil

Investing.com - Asian shares gained on Wednesday in a busy data day across the region that buffeted currencies.

In Japan, December preliminary wages rose 1.6%, meeting expectations and clocking a 10th straight gain.

But Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata also said Wednesday real wages will eventually move out of the current long downtrend, though he urged the public again to be patient.

"While monetary policy will surely influence the real economy, there is a sequence of steps for such influence to spread and thus it takes a certain length of time for the policy to come into full effect," he told business leaders in the northern Japanese city of Sendai.

"In addition, Japan's economy is in the midst of tackling a difficult issue of overcoming deflation of more than 15 years. I would request your patience, with a good hope, while the virtuous cycle - in which an improvement in income encourages spending, leading to a further expansion of production and income - would make more progress as we move forward."

New Zealand's fourth quarter unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7%, compared to expectations for a drop to 5.3% from 5.4% in the third quarter with the participation rate at a record high of 69.70%.

But later RBNZ Governor Wheeler said in prepared remarks that any change in the official cash rate was not immediately on the cards.

An increase or a cut is possible but some way off as "a period of OCR stability is the most prudent option," Wheeler told the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce.

Given the RBNZ's surprise move to switch to an explicit neutral basis at the official cash rate review last week, the speech added more detail to the outlook.

Earlier, Australia's AIGroup services index rose 2.4 points to 49.9, edging up to just shy of expansion territory. As well, National Australia bank said fourth quarter business confidence came in at +2, from +6 in the third quarter, while conditions were unchanged at +4.

In China the HSBC services PMI for January came in at 51.8, below the 52.8 expected.

The Nikeei 225 rose 2.20%, while the Hang Seng index gained 0.85%.

Australia's key S&P ASX 200 shot up to fresh seven-year highs, capitalizing on Tuesday's rally ignited by an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

The energy sector extended gains on the back of firmer oil prices. Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) and Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) climbed 3.5 and 3 percent each.

Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of Australia are in focus after the lenders lowered their floating mortgage rates early Wednesday. Shares of the two banks rose 2.2 and 0.4 percent each.

Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Telecommunications sectors led shares higher.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.76%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.44%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.09%.