HONG KONG: Asian markets rose Wednesday thanks to a positive lead from Wall Street, but gains were capped by lingering doubts about an upcoming European Union summit aimed at tackling the eurozone debt crisis.
Tokyo closed up 0.77 percent, or 66.50 points, at 8,730.49, while Sydney closed 0.75 percent, or 29.9 points, up at 4,043.2 and Hong Kong added 1.08 percent in the afternoon.
Seoul ended flat, edging down 0.16 points to close at 1,817.65, while in late trade Shanghai was also little changed.
US markets were given a boost by the S&P Case-Shiller price index for 20 major US cities, which rose for the third straight month in April.
The modest rise in the US market, caused by property prices falling less than expected, provided a fillip as the sector is a key component in the world's biggest economy.
However, separately the Conference Board reported that consumers grew more pessimistic about the economy for the fourth consecutive month in June.
The Dow gained 0.26 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.48 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.63 percent.
Eyes are on Europe, with leaders meeting in Brussels for two days of talks from Thursday to consider proposals to give EU authorities more power over national budgets, and to centralise banking supervision.
But economists are unconvinced they will be able to overcome their differences to hammer out a coherent deal.
Some of the region's top finance chiefs met in Paris Tuesday to try to pave the way for a summit deal.
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the gathering would be anything but "banal" and would tackle real issues, while Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti vowed to work overtime to save the euro.