Asian markets mostly rose on Wednesday following recent losses despite a fall on Wall Street at the start of the US corporate earnings season.

The dollar and euro also picked up against the yen, providing strong support for the Nikkei index.

Tokyo rose 0.49 per cent by the break, Hong Kong gained 0.51 per cent, Sydney was 0.39 per cent higher and Seoul was up 0.10 per cent but Shanghai was 0.20 per cent off.