HONG KONG: Asian markets rose on Monday following another record-breaking close on Wall Street as a weak batch of US data narrowed the chances of an early interest rate hike.
The euro held up against the dollar and yen as investors nervously watch developments in Europe as Greece tries to hammer out a bailout reform deal with its creditors that will unlock much-needed cash to service its debts.
Hong Kong rallied 1.14 percent, Shanghai added 1.61 percent, Sydney rose 0.67 percent, Seoul gained 0.19 percent and Tokyo was flat.
With few catalysts at the start of the week, regional traders took their lead from New York where the S$P 500 and Nasdaq pushed to new highs Friday.
The Nasdaq added 0.71 percent after breaking a 15-year-old record on Thursday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.23 percent to a new record. The Dow gained 0.12 percent.
The gains came after official figures showed orders for US durable goods surged four percent in March, driven by a jump in orders for civilian and military aircraft as well as autos.
But with those elements stripped out, the report showed an 0.2 percent decline in orders, underscoring the weakness of US non-transport industries in part due to the strong dollar.
“Friday s US durable goods orders report was sufficiently weak to power US stock indices to new record highs, such was the zero for longer interpretation of the data,” Ray Attrill, global co-head of foreign-exchange strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney, wrote in a note Monday, according to Bloomberg News.
The news put downward pressure on the dollar, which fell Friday to 118.99 yen in New York from 119.56 yen in Tokyo earlier in the day. On Monday the greenback bought 118.97 yen.
The euro fetched $1.0866 and 129.29 yen against $1.0873 and 129.38 yen in US trade.
