SHANGHAI, July 10 -- YAHOO! Inc, owner of the most-visited Website in the United States, is also the most popular in Asia, according to a survey of 10 markets in the region by research company ComScore Inc.

The company had the most popular Websites in Japan, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, the researcher said yesterday.

Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have the region's second and third most popular sites, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore said on its Website.

Asia has drawn increased investment from US Web companies such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google as they look to win users in the region's fast growing economies such as China and India, Bloomberg News reported.

Internet use

ComScore said 10 percent of the population in the Asian markets surveyed uses the Internet at home or work, lagging behind the worldwide rate of 16 percent.

South Korea has the highest rate of Internet usage at 65 percent of its population, followed by Australia with 62 percent, New Zealand with 60 percent, and Hong Kong's 59 percent.

India with three percent and China with nine are at the bottom of the list, according to ComScore.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, operates its Websites in China and Japan, the region's biggest markets by users, through ventures with local companies.

Alibaba.com Corp, in which Yahoo holds a 40 percent stake, owns and operates the Yahoo China site.