Asian stocks rose on Monday, pushing the regional benchmark index to its longest streak of gains since 2004, on optimism tax cuts and government asset purchases will alleviate the global recession. On Friday, US stocks reached a two-month high with the S&P500 gaining 3.2% after General Motors received its first cash infusion from the government and oil prices rallied.
Asian markets (Mon, Japan half-day)
05:07am GMT
Nikkei (Mon) up 183.56 (+2.07%) to 9,043.12
Topix (Mon) up 16.67 (+1.94%) to 875.91
Hang Seng (Mon) up 188.06 (+1.25%) at 15,230.87
US markets (Fri)
DJIA up 258.30 (+2.94%) at 9,034.69
Nasdaq up 55.18 (+3.5%) at 1,632.21
S&P500 up 28.55 (+3.16%) at 931.80
European markets (Fri)
FTSE100 up 169.11 (+3.85%) at 4,561.79
Eurofirst 300 up 24.82 (+2.98%) at 856.79
Currencies
05:10GMT
€/$ 1.3878 (Dec 23: 1.4005)
$/¥ 91.96 (90.23)
£/$ 1.4467 (1.4843)
Commodities
05:12 GMT
Brent Crude (Feb09) up $0.39 at $47.30
Light Crude (Feb09) up $0.76 at $47.10
100 Oz Gold (Feb09) down $8.00 at $871.50
3M 24HR Copper down $30.00 at $3,185
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.41 (Dec 23: 2.17)
UK 3.03 (3.13)
Germany 2.98 (2.94)
Japan 1.21 (1.22)
Sources: FT, Reuters