Asian shares up on US earnings

HONG KONG (Reuters) :Asian shares rose on Thursday as strong corporate profits from U.S. bellwethers allayed fears of a slowdown in earnings, particularly for the beleaguered tech sector, while the euro steadied after overnight weakness.

European shares were set to open slightly higher with the Eurostoxx 50 futures and Germany’s DAX futures up 0.4 percent while U.S. stock futures were up 0.3 percent.

Data showing groundbreaking on new U.S. homes rose in June to its fastest pace in over three years also supported the market, after a series of recent reports had pointed to worrying signs that the economy was cooling.

The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index rose 1.5 percent.

Korea’s KOSPI bounced 1.6 percent despite a drop in banking shares that were hit by news that local banks were being probed by authorities investigating how a key interest rate has been set.

Japan’s Nikkei ended up 0.8 percent but off its highs as market players worried that a firmer yen would pressure exporters such as car makers and electronics manufacturers.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 hit its highest level since early May, helped by quarterly numbers from bellwethers such as Intel Corp and Honeywell and housing starts data that came in better than expected.

Continued resilience in “safe haven” assets such as U.S. Treasuries underscored persistent concerns about the speed of economic growth, keeping bond yields near historic lows.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke repeated in congressional testimony on Wednesday the central bank’s pledge to act if the economy needed it as he underscored his concerns, specifically in the job market.

U.S. Ten-year Treasuries edged up around 1/32 in price to yield 1.489 percent, down roughly 1 basis point from late U.S. trade on Wednesday.

Despite his gloomy view on the U.S. economy Bernanke downplayed the risks of a double-dip recession.

That, combined with geo-political fears arising out of violence in Syria, underpinned oil prices with Brent crude holding steady above $105 on Thursday, near a seven-week high.

U.S. crude was up 0.8 percent at $90.57 a barrel.