Global Markets: Asian shares firm as China, US data brighten outlook
Asian shares clambered to a 16-month high on Monday as investors took heart from economic data from China and the United States that raised hopes about the outlook for growth in the world's top two economies.
The euro was under pressure, having been knocked by the prospect of a recession in Germany and political uncertainty in Italy after Prime Minister Mario Monti, an investors' favourite, said at the weekend he intended to resign early.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan and Tokyo's Nikkei share average both gained 0.3 percent.
The MSCI index rose more than 1 percent last week, its third successive weekly gain, taking it to levels not seen since early August 2011, and there was a further boost for regional markets on Sunday when China reported a pick-up in factory output and retail sales growth to eight-month highs.
"We had some really good economic data coming out from China," said Juliana Roadley, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities. "Over the last few years, you had the Chinese government pulling back on growth and trying to control things so that it didn't over-boil. Now it looks like all that good work has been done."
Hopes that China's economy is revving up again after seven straight quarters of slowing growth also boosted riskier assets such as oil and copper.
Asian "risk" markets took in their stride China trade data on Monday that showed both imports and exports below forecasts.
"The export slowdown shows external demand faces uncertainty
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