Japan (BBN)-Asian shares were up on Friday, taking their lead from the US where markets closed higher after some strong company results boosted investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 ended the day 1.2% higher at 1,951, after positive results from big firms including Caterpillar and 3M, reports BBC.
Japan’s Nikkei index rose 1.2% after the auto giant Toyota said it would post record profits for the nine months to September.
Shares of the carmaker rose more than 2% on the news.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Shanghai Composite on mainland China rose 0.2% , while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.3%.
China’s government said on Friday that property prices across its 70 biggest cities fell 1.3% during September from a year earlier.
Property developers have been cutting prices in an attempt to revive slow sales and unload houses.
China has seen falling sales across 2014 and banks have become more cautious about lending to both developers and investors.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.3% after data showed the country’s economy grew 0.9% in the three months to September.
The advanced numbers compare to a 0.5% rise in the earlier quarter.
“The [third quarter] release showed private consumption improving marginally and investment recovering amid a stabilisation in business confidence, supported by the rate cut in August,” economist Wai Ho Leong from Barclays said in a note.
He said a closer look at the growth numbers showed the main contributor to the quarterly growth was private consumption, but that net exports had “turned into a drag”.
Exports fell for the first time in a year, dropping 2.6% compared to the quarter before.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.6% in early trade, taking its lead from Wall Street.
The rise follows a disappointing run on Thursday when the benchmark index ended seven sessions of gains – its longest winning streak since August.
Overall for Asia on Friday, Desmond Chua, head of sales trading at CMC markets warned concerns over Ebola in the US “may filter through into Asian markets” on Monday.
A New York doctor who had recently travelled to the Ebola-ravaged West African country of Guinea has tested positive for the disease, US media have reported, citing New York officials.
BBN/JF-24Oct14-10:00am (BST)