Global Markets: Asian shares rise, yen slips
Asian shares rose on Monday, boosted by a positive tone in U.S. equities last week, while the yen fell to a near seven-month low against the dollar on expectations a new government after next month's election in Japan may deliver more stimulus.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent, recovering from Friday's nine-week low.
Its energy sector outperformed as mounting supply concerns on escalating tension from Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and Hamas rocket attacks on Israel underpinned oil prices.
The material sector also were among top gainers as London copper rallied 1 percent to $7.684 a tonne on expectations for economic measures in China and hopes for a solution to the U.S. fiscal crisis.
Australian shares inched up 0.2 percent but Shanghai shares underperformed with a 0.3 percent drop, hovering near the seven-week low touched on Friday.
We had some positive leads from the U.S. on Friday. Our market had been underperforming last week, Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index, said of Australian equities.
There's some hope that the negotiations in the U.S. around the fiscal situation may somewhat improve -- the prospects around that may improve this week.
Japan's Nikkei average, which bucked the broad Asian downtrend on Friday and surged 2.2 percent, extended gains with a 1.3 percent climb to a two-month high. Speculation that the leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which is expected to win the Dec. 16 elections, will call
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