Asian markets up on Bernanke comments

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Asian markets rose Thursday following a cautiously upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve and comments from its chairman that he would provide more support if necessary.

Foreign exchange traders remained bullish ahead of a policy meeting at the Bank of Japan on Friday, with many expecting further monetary easing.

Tokyo gained 0.11 per cent by the break, Hong Kong added 0.60 per cent, Sydney was 0.50 per cent higher, Seoul climbed 0.33 per cent and Shanghai was flat.

While the Fed Wednesday said it would keep interest rates at super-low levels until at least 2014, it forecast the world's biggest economy would grow more than first stated this year while unemployment would continue to fall.

However, it held off unleashing any more stimulus measures for now, instead sticking to its current loosening policy despite recent data showing the big pick-up in job creation had slowed.

After the two-day meeting chairman Ben Bernanke said further spending would be 'reckless' but added that he was ready to use whatever tools he had at his disposal at any moment.

"We would not hesitate to use them should the economy require that additional support," he said.

The news gave extra lift to Wall Street's main indexes, which were already on a roll following spectacular first-quarter earnings reports from Apple and Boeing.

The Dow climbed 0.69 per cent, the Nasdaq jumped 2.30 per cent and the S&P 500 jumped 1.36 per cent.

Eyes are now on Tokyo, where the Japanese central bank is likely to hold interest rates at near zero but markets are hoping for another liquidity injection as the economy's recovery stutters.

The Bank of Japan has already this year said it will pump tens of billions of dollars more into the the system to help businesses and try to dig the country out of a painful deflationary cycle.

The euro bought $1.3229 and 107.60 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.3215 and 107.49 yen. The dollar was flat at 81.33 yen.

However, there is still some nervousness about Europe after Britain slipped back into a technical recession as the economy contracted 0.2 percent in the January-March quarter following a 0.4 per cent shrinkage in the previous three months.

And across the Channel political uncertainty in France and the Netherlands has raised concerns about a fiscal pact agreed by the eurozone last year, while weak economic data has also hit confidence.

On oil markets New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, fell 10 cents to $104.02 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery shed 20 cents to $118.92.

Gold was at $1,643.10 an ounce at 0200 GMT, compared with $1,640.25 late on Thursday.