Asian markets mostly rose on Thursday, with support coming from another positive lead from Wall Street and news that Chinese manufacturing activity had hit a two-year high in January.

However, regional tech firms were weighed by disappointing earnings from Apple, and Tokyo and Seoul were dented by more downbeat economic data.

Tokyo rose 0.36 per cent by the break, Hong Kong added 0.15 per cent, Shanghai surged 1.01 per cent and Sydney climbed 0.40 per cent, while Seoul was flat.