Asian Shares Rise After Wall Street Rally

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks advanced on Monday after U.S. stocks ended several days of sell-offs with a sharp rebound on Friday, helped by upbeat earnings news and strong economic data.

Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday. The Bank of Japan holds its policy meeting this week, with analysts expecting the central bank to stick with its ultra-easy policies amid concerns the yen's decades-low weakness will add to the cost of imported commodities and widen the country's trade deficit.

Chinese shares surged as the central bank governor pledged strong support for the economy and regulators urged lenders to extend loans to qualified real estate projects following a widening mortgage-payment boycott on unfinished houses.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.55 percent to close at 3,278.10, with financials and property developers pacing the gainers. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index soared 2.70 percent to 20,846.18.

Seoul stocks rallied to hit a two-week high after a survey showed U.S. consumers' inflation expectations eased in July on the back of a drop in oil prices. The Kospi average climbed 1.90 percent to settle at 2,375.25.

Tech and auto shares topped the gainers list, with Hyundai Motor, Kia Corp, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rising 1-3 percent. Financials Shinhan Financial Group and KB Financial Group surged 4-5 percent.

Australian markets advanced, led by energy stocks. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 rose 1.23 percent to 6,687.10 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 1.32 percent higher at 6,888.

Woodside Energy and Santos gained over 2 percent each as oil extended Friday's gains on dollar weakness and signs of tight supplies.

Suncorp soared 6.1 percent after Australia and New Zealand Bank said it would buy the insurer's banking business. Shares of the latter were in a trading halt. Across the Tasman, New Zealand shares eked out modest gains after the government said it would extend a reduction to fuel taxes to tackle higher inflation and temper the surge in gasoline prices.

The benchmark S&P NZX-50 index closed 0.37 percent higher at 11,163.63 despite annual inflation quickening to a 32-year high of 7.3 percent in the April-June quarter.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday as a new round of earnings results from Wells Fargo, Citigroup and UnitedHealth coupled with promising retail sales and consumer sentiment data painted a positive picture of the economy.

The Dow jumped 2.2 percent and the S&P 500 surged 1.9 percent to snap five-day losing streaks, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.8 percent.