Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly higher on Monday with Shanghai bucking the trend as centrist Emmanuel Macron matched opinion poll expectations and handily beat anti-EU far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and the Nikkei 225 surged more than 2%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.57%. The Hang Seng Index gained 0.35% but the Shanghai Composite eased 0.92% after trade data. Overall, China said exports rose 8.0% in April year-on-year, below the 10.4% gain seen, while imports rose 11.9% also below the 18.0% gain expected for a trade balance surplus of $38.05 billion, wider than the $35.50 billion seen.
Last week, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Telecoms sectors led shares higher. At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.26%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.41%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.42%.