Australian stocks scaled a five-year peak on Monday, leading a rebound in Asia after strong results from the likes of Microsoft pushed Wall Street to another record closing high, while investors gave the safe-haven yen a wide berth.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7 percent, recovering a chunk of last week's 1.1 percent loss -- the biggest in two months -- that was driven by concerns that China may tighten policy to keep prices under control.
Australian shares put on 1.2 percent to reach their highest since June 2008, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 percent, and South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.3 percent.
Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.0 percent, clawing back some of Friday's 2.7 percent drop.
Many traders suspect further gains in Asia may be limited as investors keep a wary eye what steps Chinese policymakers might take to cool property prices and inflation.
Several markets in Asia are closed for public holidays on Monday, including New Zealand and the Philippines.
Source:reuters
