SINGAPORE - Japan’s Nikkei share average rose 2 percent on Thursday, buoyed by confidence on Wall Street after reassuring earnings eclipsed weak data on the US economy which pinned the dollar near record lows on the euro.

Encouraging results from Intel Corp, IBM and JPMorgan Chase & Co helped overshadow mostly gloomy economic news on the world’s largest economy.

A sharp fall in US housing starts and data that showed home building sank to a 17-year low on Wednesday reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates again.

Oil CLc1 hovered around $115 a barrel, off a record high, while gold steadied after climbing more than 2 percent the day before, supported by a weak dollar.

Japanese stocks climbed led by high-tech shares such as TDK Corp and Canon Inc after earnings from US blue chips soothed investors concerned about corporate profitability amid a weak US economy.

"Earnings at US companies have generally been better than expected, though worries about Citigroup’s earnings remain," said Yoku Ihara, manager of the investment information department at Retela Crea Securities.

By the midday break, the benchmark Nikkei average was up 2.3 percent at 13,452.23 after ending up 1.2 percent on Wednesday.

The MSCI’s measure of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan. MIAPJ0000PUS rose 1.2 percent by 0200 GMT, building on Wednesday’s more than 1 percent gain, though the index is still down around 10 percent so far this year.

Markets in Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong all posted gains of more than 1 percent.

Financial stocks rose after solid results from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo & Co heartened investors who had been counting on the big banks to fare better than rivals in coping with the US mortgage meltdown and global credit crunch.

The dollar held near an all-time low against the euro on expectations of further rate cuts as the US economy slows, while record high inflation in the euro zone backed views the European Central Bank will not cut rates soon.

"The dollar continues to be weak, while investors chase currencies whose yields are not seen falling," said Tsutomu Soma, senior manager of foreign assets at Okasan Securities.

The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday economic conditions were weakening across much of the United States while price pressures from food, fuel and raw materials were increasing.

The Commerce Department also said housing starts dropped 11.9 percent in March to an annual rate of 947,000 units, the slowest pace since March 1991 and well below economists’ expectations.

The euro dipped to $1.5935 from around $1.5945 in late US trade, but stayed within a striking distance of the all-time high of $1.5980 hit on electronic trading platform EBS.

The dollar was at 101.90 yen, barely budging against the Japanese currency.

Japanese government bond futures slid more than half a point to a six-week low, dampened by the rise in the Nikkei.

June 10-year futures 2JGBv1 fell as much as 0.65 point to 138.84, the lowest since early March. The benchmark 10-year yield climbed 3 basis points.

US crude futures for May CLc1 was trading up 2 cents at $114.95 a barrel by 0225 GMT, after touching an all-time high of $115.21 earlier, buoyed by data showing a draw in stocks.