Asian Market Update

Asian shares climbed for a third straight day Friday following more advances on Wall Street, while bargain-buying helped oil recover slightly from its latest sell-off.

The euro was also struggling to staunch a sell-off against the dollar, with the European Central Bank expected to unleash a vast easing programme at the same time as the US Federal Reserve plots an interest rate hike.

There was little initial reaction to news that Chinese inflation for December edged up from the previous month but fell well short of the government's target for the full year.

Tokyo rose 0.43 per cent, Hong Kong added 0.90 per cent, Sydney climbed 1.00 per cent and Seoul was up 0.89 per cent. Shanghai, which has clocked up gains of more than 50 per cent over the past year, was 0.57 per cent lower.