Techs, materials lead Asia shares higher

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, following a rebound on Wall Street and in Europe on upbeat corporate results, and commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian dollar also gained as momentum returned to metals markets.

Japan's Nikkei share average <.N225> rose 1.5 percent, while MSCI's index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained nearly 1 percent, led by the tech and materials sectors, which both jumped more than 1 percent. <.T>

A clutch of U.S. technology heavyweights, led by chip maker Intel Corp , reported strong results after the Wall Street close. Earlier, healthy profits from healthcare and materials companies had helped lift the S&P 500 <.SPX> 0.6 percent. <.N>

The euro traded around $1.4365, having bounced off a two-week low around $1.4155 set on Monday. The Australian dollar bought around $1.0565, heading back toward a 29-year peak of $1.0585 set on April 8.

Oil prices were little changed, with Brent crude easing a little to $121.21 a barrel and U.S. crude edging up a touch to $108.32.

Gold traded around $1,495 an ounce, just short of a record.

(Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Richard Borsuk)