Investing.com - Asian shares posted solid gains on Monday, feeding off a U.S. rally at the end of last week even as trade figures from China and Japan that were mixed.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.26%, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng
Index rose was up more than 1%. The yuan edged weaker against the dollar after the People's Bank of China weakened the fixing at 6.6615, compared with a central parity of 6.6406 on Friday.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.89%, while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.77%.
China said trade balance for July came in at a surplus of $52.31 billion, better than $47.6 billion expected, with exports down 4.4%, below the 3.0% fall seen and imports showing a 12.5% decline, far worse than the down 7.0% seen, both year-on-year.
Earlier in Japan, the adjusted current account came in at ¥1.65 trillion, well below the surplus of ¥3.20 trillion for July expected. Bank lending rose 2.1%, beating the expected 2.0% gain. In China, FX reserves came in at CNY3.2 trillion, meeting expectations.
Last week, U.S. stocks rose considerably on Friday, as stronger than expected jobs data in July helped bolster the financial sector, propelling the NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 to all-time record closing highs.
Last month, U.S. nonfarm payrolls surged by 255,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, topping the high end of analysts' expectations by 70,000 and erasing lingering concerns that June's robust report may have been a fluke.
The Labor Department also upwardly revised June gains by 5,000 to 292,000, helping erase some negative sentiments from a disappointing report in May when the labor market added only 24,000 jobs. The solid figures could compel the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets again in September.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 191.48 or 1.04% to 18,543.53, while the NASDAQ added 54.87 or 1.06% to 5,221.12, soaring to a fresh record close for the first time in more than a year. The gains were fueled by major tech stocks such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AAPL) and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:MU), which posted sharp gains in Friday's session. The NASDAQ last closed at a record-high on July 20, 2015 when it ended the session at 5,210.14.