Asian shares track Wall Street higher, oil prices retreat

Asian shares are mostly higher after an advance on Wall Street that ended a three-day losing streak

BANGKOK -- Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday after an advance on Wall Street that ended a three-day losing streak.

Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai advanced while Seoul edged lower. Oil prices fell back and U.S. futures climbed.

Investors appeared to brush aside fresh evidence that inflation remains widespread in the U.S. economy according to a U.S. government report that rising energy costs pushed wholesale prices up a record 11.2% last month from a year earlier.

That report followed news a day earlier that U.S. consumer prices remain at their highest levels in generations.