Asian shares gain, Ukraine fears recede

Hong Kong - Asian shares rose on Tuesday following a bounce on Wall Street as fears ebbed of a direct military clash between Russia and Ukraine and focus turned to a speech this week by the US Federal Reserve chief.

Tokyo climbed 0.93%, Seoul gained 0.74%, Sydney added 0.56%, Hong Kong was up 0.10% while Shanghai traded flat.

The gains came after US stocks rebounded on Monday from last week's Ukraine-linked setback, with the Dow surging and Nasdaq reaching a 14-year high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.06% at 16 838.74 points while the broad-based S&P 500 added 0.85% to 1 971.74.

The Dow had led a sell-off on Friday as news that Ukrainian artillery had destroyed part of a Russian military column spooked investors.

But Russia on Monday said that "certain progress" had been made during a marathon meeting in Berlin between the two countries' foreign ministers and their counterparts from Germany and France.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 0.97% to 4 508.31 points, its highest level since March 31, 2000, when the market was on the cusp of a nearly 4 000, point crash as the tech bubble burst.

In forex markets, the dollar was at ¥102.63 in early Asian trade, up from ¥102.57 in New York late on Monday and ¥102.32 in Tokyo earlier on Monday.

The greenback is expected to bounce in volatile forex trading this week, ahead of a speech on Friday by US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen at the central bank's annual economic policy symposium as investors look for any hint of a change to the Fed's interest rate plans.

Last month Yellen told Congress the Fed would hold its near-zero interest rate policy until the US economy strengthens, but may raise rates if the jobs market kept improving.

The euro bought $1.3361 and ¥137.11 against $1.3363 and ¥137.05 in US trade.

In oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 26 cents to $96.67 while Brent crude for October was up 7c to $101.67.

Gold traded at $1 299.20 an ounce at 04:16 compared to $1 302.22 an ounce late on Monday.