Asian stocks rose on Monday, led by shipping and mining companies after cargo rates and metals prices advanced, outweighing drops by contractors on earnings concerns. Markets in Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and India are closed Monday for holidays, while Hong Kong will be shut until Jan 29 and China and Taiwan will be closed all week for the lunar new year.
Asian markets (Mon – HK closed)
05:15am GMT
Nikkei up 18.09 (0.23%) to 7,763.34
Topix up 1.92 (0.25%) 775.47
Hang Seng (Fri): down 79.39 (-0.63%) at 12,578.60
US markets (Fri)
DJIA down 45.24 (-0.56%) at 8,077.56
Nasdaq up 11.80 (0.81%) at 1,477.29
S&P500 up 4.45 (0.54%) at 831.95
European markets (Fri)
FTSE100 up 0.24 (0.01%) at 4,052.47
Eurofirst 300 down 2.25 (-0.29%) at 760.54
Currencies
05:20 GMT
€/$ 1.2934 (1.2940)
$/¥ 89.24 (89.61)
£/$ 1.3653 (1.3772)
Commodities
05:22 GMT
Brent Crude (Mar09) down $0.73 at $47.64
Light Crude (Mar09) down $0.77 at $45.70
100 Oz Gold (Feb09) down $4.10 at $891.70
Copper (Mar09) down 40.00 at $3,250.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.61 (2.58)
UK 3.69 (3.50)
Germany 3.25 (3.09)
Japan 1.22 (1.24)
Sources: FT, Reuters