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Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly climbed on Monday, with Hong Kong advancing for an eighth straight session and Shanghai rallying after more disappointing Chinese data fuelled hopes for fresh easing measures.
Wall Street provided another strong lead on Friday, boosted by a string of merger announcements last week and a huge asset sale by General Electric (GE).
Shanghai surged 87.41 points, to 4 121.71 while Hong Kong climbed 743.95 points to 28 016.34 on the second highest turnover ever.
Seoul gained 11.16 points to end at 2 098.92.
Tokyo ended marginally lower, dipping 2.17 points to 19 905.46, while Sydney eased 8.1 points to close at 5 960.3.
In China the customs administration said imports and exports sank in March, the latest figures to show the world's number two economy continues to struggle. However, they will also reinforce investors' expectations that authorities will unveil a new round of growth-fuelling policies.
Those expectations have powered a rally in Shanghai shares to seven-year highs over the past 12 months, and mainlanders are heading to Hong Kong for what they consider cheap equities. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) has now climbed more than 13% over the past eight sessions.
Turnover on the HSI hit two successive records last week as traders north of the border made the most of a link-up between the index and Shanghai's exchange.
While the stock connect programme initially aroused little interest, the decision by mainland authorities last month to expand the number of fund-management firms allowed to buy in Hong Kong has seen activity surge.
"What we saw last week is likely to continue," Nader Naeimi, Sydney-based head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors, told Bloomberg Television.
Dollar picks up
Attention will now turn to the release Wednesday of Chinese economic growth figures for the first quarter.
In New York on Friday the Dow got a bump from GE's announcement that it will sell $26.5bn in real estate assets as part of a plan to pare off most of its GE Capital unit over the next 24 months.
It came at the end of a week that also saw major mergers including Royal Dutch Shell and FedEx.
The Dow climbed 0.55%, the S&P 500 rose 0.52% and the Nasdaq gained 0.43%.
On currency markets the dollar was at ¥120.57 on Monday compared with ¥120.30 in New York.
The euro bought $1.0590 and ¥127.67 against $1.0599 and ¥127.50.
Oil prices edged higher. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate added 78 cents to $52.42 while Brent was up $1.22 at $59.09 in afternoon trade.
Gold fetched $1,199.90 against $1,202.92 late on Friday.
In other markets:
- Taipei advanced 48.82 points to 9 666.52.
Formosa Plastics gained 1.57% to Tw$77.7 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was unchanged at Tw$147.0.
- Wellington rose 6.96 points to 5 854.32.
Air New Zealand was up 0.36% at NZ$2.75, while Fletcher Building was steady at NZ$8.25.
- Manila slipped 54.23 points to 8 073.25.
Universal Robina was down 1.26% at 219.40 pesos and Ayala eased 0.37% to 797.50 pesos but Bloomberry Resorts was up 1.02% at 11.92 pesos.
- Bangkok was closed for a public holiday.
- Mumbai rose 165.06 points to close at 29 044.44 points.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel rose 3.18% to 424.45 rupees, while automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra fell 2.58% to 1 250.50 rupees.
- Jakarta closed down 43.93 points at 5 447.41.
- Singapore gained 12.01 points to 3 484.39.
United Overseas Bank gained 0.69% to Sg$23.32 while public transport firm ComfortDelGro gained 1.39% to Sg$2.92.
- Kuala Lumpur lost 2.23 points to close at 1 842.08.
Public Bank dropped 0.21% to 19.02 ringgit and Telekom Malaysia fell 1.20% to 7.40, while Malayan Banking rose 0.85% to 9.45 ringgit.
