Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.67 per cent to its highest close in seven years this morning after a strong jobs report in the US, and higher-than-expected machinery orders in Japan spurred buying of machinery and tech stocks including Fanuc.
But shares of real estate firms such as Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate weighed on the market after the data fuelled concern about higher interest rates.
Shares of Sony ended down a touch after a company executive told Reuters in an interview in San Francisco that it plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 consoles in the United States by $100, or 17 per cent, to $500.
Taiwan stocks rose 1.98 per cent today to a seven-year closing high with the main TAIEX share index closing at 9,369.84, while the semiconductor sub-index rose 2.46 per cent.
Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of the equity information department at Shinko Securities, said the stronger-than-expected data would also likely cause concerns about rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, capping a further advance in the market.
The benchmark Nikkei finished up 121.04 points at 18,261.98, the highest close since May 2000.
The broader TOPIX index climbed 0.71 per cent to 1,792.23.
Trade volume remained moderately slow, with 1.7 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, below last year's daily average of 1.9 billion shares. Advancing shares beat decliners by a ratio of more than two to one.
Shares of high-tech shares rose with Tokyo Electron. up 1.9 per cent at 9,150 yen, while Nikon Corp. climbed 3.7 per cent to 3,680 yen.