Taiwan's exports increased for a third month in January, signaling the island's recovery is gathering pace as demand from the Chinese mainland rose. Shipments abroad rose 21.8 percent from a year earlier, after gaining 9 percent in December.

A pickup in consumer spending last quarter is reviving the US manufacturing industry, while a purchasing managers' index on the mainland showed a fourth month of output expansion in January, adding to evidence the world's largest economies are recovering.