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Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday, with upbeat U.S. economic data helping offset worries about surging oil prices due to turmoil in the Middle East.
Japan's stocks climbed, recouping some of the previous session's losses/ Exporters led the advance on short-covering after the market posted its biggest loss this year on Wednesday.
The benchmark Nikkei ended the day up 0.9 percent. The broader Topix gained 0.6 percent.
Advantest climbed 1.5 percent after the Nikkei business daily said the company has developed the technology for a next-generation multipurpose chip tester that allows semiconductor makers to check a wide range of microchips with a single machine.
Energy-related shares fell prey to profit-taking in the last hour of the trade, as the price of oil retreated to the session's low of $101.54 after Reuters said both Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the president of the Arab League agreed to a peace plan from Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez to end the crisis in the North African country, citing a news network.
Despite posting strong gains earlier, Japan's largest oil and gas developer, Inpex Corp, ended the session flat at 573,000 yen. Inpex has surged some 21 percent in 2011 amid the turmoil in the Middle East, overwhelming the Nikkei's 3.5 percent gain in the same period.
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