Asian stocks rose on Monday for a third trading day, led by technology companies and automakers, as a $1.8bn bid for Chartered Semiconductor fuelled merger speculation. Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed after the stock gauge climbed 1.3% on Friday after employment figures showed that US companies cut fewer jobs last month than economists had estimated. The unemployment rate rose to 9.7% the highest level in 26 years.
Asian markets (Mon)
04:15 BST
Nikkei up 103.67 (1.02%) at 10,290.78
Topix up 7.12 (0.76%) at 942.86
Hang Seng up 291.09 (1.43%) at 20,609.71
US markets (Fri)
S&P500 up13.16 (1.31%) at 1,016.40
DJIA up 96.66 (1.03%) at 9,441.27
Nasdaq up 35.58 (1.79%) at 2,018.78
European markets (Fri)
Eurofirst 300 up 12.60 (1.33%) at 962.42
FTSE100 up 54.45 (1.15%) at 4,851.70
Currencies
04:02 BST
€/$ 1.4326 (1.4255)
$/¥ 93.16 (92.62)
£/$ 1.6384 (1.6326)
Commodities (continuous)
03:55 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) up $0.28 at $67.10
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.06 at $68.08
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down $2.50 at $994.20
Copper (Comex) down $0.85 at $283.50
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:05 BST
US 3.43 (3.35)
UK 3.59 (3.59)
Germany 3.25 (3.25)
Japan 1.35 (1.31)
Sources: FT, Reuters, Bloomberg