Bloomberg News
It was nice start for Asian stocks on Monday, led by Japan, following end-of-week gains in the U.S. after another solid jobs report.
The Nikkei was up an early 1.2%, helped by declines in the yen; the greenback was last around ¥109.70 versus ¥109.08 when Friday’s local stock trading wrapped. Big exporters Toyota and Sony were about 3% higher. Oil names opened lower, with crude distributor JXTG down 0.8% after jumping a combined 4.7% Thursday and Friday while and producer Inpex shedded 2.1% to erase the gains seen during a three-day rebound through Friday. Brent oil retreated 1% Friday and was off a further 0.3% Monday morning
Meanwhile, indexes in South Korea and Australia started with 0.4% advances, with the latter’s benchmark having fallen for three straight weeks. New Zealand’s markets are closed for a holiday.
Singapore stocks also opened solidly higher amid broad optimism in the region after Friday’s post-jobs gains in the U.S. After three straight declines, the Straits Times Index was up 0.7% with banks and property stocks early outperformers, rising more than 1%.
Malaysian stocks opened lower, contrasting early gains elsewhere in Asia, as the market paused following two days of roughly 1% gains.