Investing.com - Shares in Asia rose on Thursday, responding to a rebound on Wall Street which posted a gain for the first time in three days.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4%, while Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5%. Korea's KOSPI rose 0.6%.
Gains were more subdued in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 rose a slight 0.2%.
In company news, Yahoo Japan Corp. (TOKYO:4689) rose 2% after Japan's biggest Internet portal said it would take a stake in a credit-card company to expand its e-commerce business.
Overnight, U.S. stocks rose after investors took a dismal first-quarter GDP report in stride, betting that the second quarter will reveal a solid uptick in economic activity.
The Dow 30 rose 0.29%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.49%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.68%.
The Commerce Department reported that U.S. gross domestic product contracted at an annual rate of 2.9% in the first quarter of the year, far surpassing consensus forecasts for a decline of 1.7%.
U.S. first-quarter GDP was initially reported to have increased by 0.1%, but was subsequently revised to show a contraction of 1.0%.
The difference between the second and third estimate was the largest since records began in 1976, the Commerce Department added.
A separate report showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell 1.0% in May, while core durable goods orders fell 0.1%. Market expectations had been for an increase of 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
Stocks rose anyway, as recent housing and other economic indicators have depicted a U.S. economy that is rebounding from a rough winter that seriously disrupted commerce.
First-quarter earnings have given investors room to believe that the economy is gaining steam as well.
On Thursday, the U.S. is to release data on personal income and expenditure, as well as data on inflation linked to personal spending.