(Updates prices throughout, adds analyst quote)
* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Asian stocks gain, Nikkei at one-year high
* Tesla shares jump 21%, Microsoft gains too
* Investors ignore earnings miss from Caterpiller, Boeing
* Brexit developments still in focus
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Asian shares pulled ahead on
Thursday as corporate earnings and a ceasefire in northern Syria
helped prop up sentiment, though the backdrop of trade and
brexit uncertainties was enough to prevent a decisive shift
towards riskier assets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.4% with Japan's Nikkei .N225 rising
0.66% to a one-year high. Australian shares .AXJO climbed 0.5%
while South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 eased 0.1%.
South Korea earlier reported third quarter growth slightly
below expectations, while a private survey showed Japanese
factory activity shrank at the fastest pace in over three years
in October, hurt by slowing global demand and trade
frictions. Chinese shares opened higher with the blue-chip index
.CSI300 rising 0.37%.
Risk appetite was also aided after U.S. President Donald
Trump lifted sanctions on Turkey saying a ceasefire in northern
Syria was now permanent.
"U.S.-China trade friction seems to be entering a truce, a
no-deal Brexit looks increasingly likely to be avoided, and the
U.S.'s posture against Turkey appears to have been softening,"
JPMorgan analyst Tohru Sasaki wrote in a note pointing to
reasons for a rally in Nikkei.
JPMorgan expects gains in the Japanese index to extend into
year-end led by share buy-backs.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow .DJI and the Nasdaq
.IXIC added 0.2% each while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.3%.
Telsa TSLA.O shares jumped 21% in after-hours trading
following a surprise third quarter profit.
Microsoft MSFT.O also posted forecast-beating profit and
revenue numbers after the closing bell though the outlook was
darkened by slower-than-expected take-up of its Azure cloud
services.
Earlier, shares of U.S. industrial bellwethers Boeing Co
BA.N and Caterpillar Inc CAT.N ended about 1% higher each
despite big earnings misses. RBC Capital Markets' chief economist Tom Porcelli pointed to
consistently alarming headlines since the first quarter of 2018
suggesting poor Caterpillar earnings meant a recession was round
the corner, though that has yet to transpire.
"We have been down this road before with CAT," Porcelli said
in a note titled 'Still Waiting For Recession.'
"If you keep saying a recession is here, it is a
mathematical certainty that at some point you will be right," he
wrote. "Maybe try again after CAT's next quarterly earnings
report."
So far, results from about 125 of the S&P500 companies are
out with analysts expecting earnings to have declined 2.9%
year-over-year, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
BREXIT BATTLE
Currency markets stuck to tight ranges ahead of key central
bank meetings this week and next with the euro zone, Japan and
United States due to review policy. European and U.S.
manufacturing numbers are due later in the day. FRX/
Sterling GBP= paused at $1.2918 after rising 0.3% on
Wednesday with Brexit developments in focus.
Britain appears closer than ever to resolving its 3-1/2-year
Brexit conundrum but there are still hurdles to clear.
EU member states on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether
to grant Britain a three-month Brexit extension. Prime Minister
Boris Johnson said if the deadline is deferred to the end of
January, he would call an election.
"The Brexit battle looks like it will drag on," economists
at ANZ wrote in a note.
"The UK government will not meet its current timetable of
leaving the EU on 31 October, and an extension appears likely.
In the meantime, Brexit uncertainty will keep weighing on UK
business investment and activity."
The single currency EUR=D3 was flat at $1.1135. The
Japanese yen JPY= was 0.1% higher at 108.57 per dollar while
the Australian dollar AUD=D3 was barely changed at $0.6852.
That left the dollar index .DXY slightly lower at 97.400
against a basket of six major currencies.
In commodity markets, U.S. crude CLcv1 eased 46 cents to
$55.51 while Brent LCOcv1 slipped 36 cents to $60.81.
Gold XAU= was treading water at $1,492.75 an ounce.
Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)