Asian shares rise after Wall St rally

HONG KONG:Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, with sentiment buoyed by last week's deal in Washington to avert a default as well as a record close on Wall Street.

The yen slipped against the dollar and euro in afternoon trading after data showed Japan logged a record 15th consecutive monthly trade deficit.

Tokyo rose 0.91 percent, or 132.03 points, to 14,693.57; Seoul was flat, edging up 0.61 points to 2,053.01; and Sydney advanced 0.57 percent, or 30.3 points, to 5,351.8.

Shanghai jumped 1.62 percent, or 35.46 points, to 2,229.24 and in the afternoon Hong Kong was up 0.44 percent.

With the US shutdown and default crisis out of the way for the time being, investors are now eyeing the delayed release of US non-farm payrolls data on Tuesday.

The figures, delayed because of the shutdown, will give investors a better idea of the state of the US economy and could have a bearing on when the Federal Reserve winds down its stimulus.

Asian investors took a positive lead from New York Friday, where the S&P 500 surged 0.65 percent to another record, while the Dow put on 0.18 percent.

The Nasdaq jumped 1.32 percent to highs not seen since September 2000 thanks to a surge in Google shares, which topped $1,000 after the Internet giant posted a 36 percent rise in third-quarter net profit.

In forex trade the yen eased after Tokyo announced its trade deficit had expanded 64.1 percent in September to $9.5 billion as energy import costs balloon owing to a weaker currency and the ongoing shutdown of nuclear power stations.

However, there was some good news in the data, which showed exports rose 11.5 percent, helped by a surge in shipments to China as relations thaw despite a territorial dispute with Beijing.

The dollar bought 98.08 yen in afternoon trade against 97.72 yen in New York Friday, while the euro was at $1.3681 and 134.16 yen, compared with $1.3682 and 133.75.