TOKYO – Asian shares were mostly higher Monday as jobs numbers spurred a wave of buying late last week on Wall Street.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.4 percent in early trading to 23,439.13, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 6,735.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.3 percent to 2,087.92. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.1 percent to 26,511.78. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1 percent to 2,910.31.
“Markets were mostly higher on the solid US jobs data print,” Vishnu Varathan of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a report.
The Japanese Cabinet Office reported Monday that the economy expanded at a 1.8 percent annual pace in July-September, spurred by strong consumer purchases ahead of an Oct. 1 sales tax hike. That was much stronger than the 0.2 percent growth earlier reported and marked a fourth straight quarter of expansion for the world’s No. 3 economy.
The surprisingly strong US jobs report had put investors in a buying mood on Wall Street, extending the market’s winning streak to a third day. (AP)
