Asian markets mostly up on US, China stimulus hopes

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, with weak data from China and the United States fuelling expectations for fresh moves to boost growth in the world's two biggest economies.

The euro, which surged on Friday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announce a bond-buying plan to help under-pressure nations, eased slightly in early Asian exchanges.

Tokyo slipped 0.13 percent by the break, with a slightly stronger yen compounding figures showing the Japanese economy grew at a slower pace than initially thought.

Hong Kong rose 0.40 percent, Shanghai gained 0.30 percent, Seoul was 0.10 percent higher and Sydney was off 0.20 percent.

Regional markets saw big gains Friday following the ECB announcement to buy sovereign bonds in a bid to lower borrowing costs for countries such as Spain and Italy, which are struggling under huge debts.

However, later on Friday the US Labor Department said just 96,000 jobs were added last month, convincing many that the Fed would act in its policy meeting this week to introduce another round of bond purchases, or quantitative easing.

"A lot of the buying activity we are seeing is based on the premise that we will see easing from the US this week," said Tim Waterer, senior trader at CMC Markets in Sydney.

"Traders now think that it is not an issue of if we will see easing, but the scope of any plan," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

The prospect of easing measures sent the dollar lower against other currencies, although the unit bounced back on Monday.