Stocks in Asia headed higher on Wednesday as investors cheered encouraging earnings from Alcoa.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 70 points at 10,578 in Tokyo while the Hang Seng advanced 107 points at 23,218.

Aluminium giant Alcoa's quarterly results, which traditionally kick off the corporate earnings season in the US, boosted sentiment. The group swung back into profit in the final quarter of its financial year as it reduced expenses. It also expects global aluminium demand to increase to 7% in 2013 from 6% the year before.

Chinese aluminim firm al Aluminum Corp. of China was in demand following the results. Its shares rose 1.1% in Hong Kong. Other metal related companies such as Jiangxi Copper and Maanshan Iron & Steel were also sought after.

Otherwise Japanese exporters recovered from recent losses as the yen pulled back against major currencies. Shares of Honda and Toyota both pushed nearly 2% ahead. Mazda was up 3.5% while

TDK Corp bounced 5.3% and Nikon Corp rallied nearly 1% in Tokyo.
Panasonic and Canon bucked the otherwise upbeat trend among exporters, with its shares heading lower.

Japanese construction firms were also notable movers, with shares such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sumitomo Heavy Industries up as much as 5%.




CJ

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