Asia’s carmakers led a rally across the region’s stock markets as figures showed they outsold their American rivals to account for just under half of sales in January in the US, the world’s biggest vehicle market. Signs that China’s stimulus package may be starting to work provided gave another fillip to shares.

South Korea gained 2.8 per cent, Japan was up by 2.7 per cent, Shanghai rallied by 2.3 per cent, Hong Kong rose by 2.2 per cent but