SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Monday morning trade as investors look ahead to Chinese economic data releases expected later in the day.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.61% in early trade as shares of conglomerate SoftBank Group jumped 2%. The Topix index gained 0.65%.
Preliminary estimates released Monday showed Japan’s gross domestic product declining an annualized 3% in the July-September quarter, far worse than the median market forecast for a 0.8% contraction, according to Reuters.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.39% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 0.29%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.15% higher.
China is set to release a slew of economic data, including industrial production and retail sales for October, at 10:00 a.m. HK/SIN.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.136 following a recent rise from below 94.5.
The Japanese yen traded at 113.97 per dollar, following last week’s weakening from levels below 113 against the greenback The Australian dollar was at $0.7332, having slipped from above $0.74 last week.
Oil prices rose in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.22% to $82.35 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.3% to $81.03 per barrel.
