Asian shares up after First Republic aid spurs Wall St rally

Shares have advanced in Asia, tracking a rally on Wall Street after a group of big banks offered a lifeline to First Republic Bank, the lender investors had focused on in their hunt for troubles in the banking industry. Benchmarks rose more than 1% in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8% Thursday, erasing earlier losses following reports that First Republic Bank could get help or sell itself to another bank. Markets have gyrated this week on concerns over the toll on banks from the fastest set of interest rate hikes in decades. The turmoil flared with last week's collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.