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Asian markets rebound as Iraq fears wane

Hong Kong - Asian markets opened up Monday following widespread falls last week as investors took heart from Wall Street shrugging off fears over instability in Iraq and Ukraine.

Tokyo rebounded 2.26% in early morning trade, making up much of the 3.0% dip it suffered Friday after US President Barack Obama's announcement that he had authorised air strikes in Iraq.

Other regional markets followed suit, with Hong Kong up 0.77% at the open, Sydney rising 0.58%, Seoul adding 0.46% and Shanghai opening up 0.33%.

Last week ended on a sour note for most Asian markets as worried investors took fright from a ramping up of instability in Iraq, where the US has been launching air strikes against extremist militants besieging ethnic minorities in the country's north.

But US markets shrugged off the escalation of violence, ending the week in the black with a big rally on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.56 to 16 553.93 points by close of play while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 18.26 to 4 370.90 points.

Analysts said Asian markets were still keeping a close eye on the global geopolitical situation, but added that investors were beginning to feel both the Ukraine and Iraq conflicts were de-escalating.

Over the weekend, Russia called for a humanitarian ceasefire in eastern Ukraine as Kiev's army shelled the main rebel bastion of Donetsk.

"On an interim-term view, geopolitics remain at the forefront of investors' decision making," wrote Evan Lucas at Melbourne-based IG in a note.

"The conclusions from the weekend are that conflicts are cooling, and the risk-off events of the past two weeks may see upside risk as de-escalation spreads across the conflicts."

In the week ahead, investors will be looking for economic health indicators from China. The world's second-largest economy is due to release its latest industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment figures on Wednesday.

US retail sales and industrial production for July will also be released later this week.

The dollar was at ¥102.12 in early Tokyo trade, compared with ¥102.06 in New York late on Friday. The euro bought $1.3403 and ¥136.87 against $1.3416 and ¥136.93.

Oil prices were higher. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 21 cents to $97.86 while Brent crude for September gained 2c to $105.04.

Gold slumped to 1 306.91 an ounce by 02:15 GMT compared to its three-week high of $1 322.92/oz on Friday.
 

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