countries at the weekend, a missile test by North Korea, and weak U.S. data.
Oil prices
jumped after Saudi Arabia's energy minister and Russia's oil minister said at a
joint briefing in Beijing that they agreed output cuts should be extended to
March 2018.
U.S. crude
surged 1.6 percent to $48.61 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent was also up 1.6
percent at $51.63.
European
stocks are also set to extend Friday's gains, with financial spreadbetter CMC
Markets expecting Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 to open 0.1 percent
higher, and Germany's DAX to start the day up 0.2 percent.
MSCI's
broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent to its
highest level since June 2015.
MSCI's
emerging markets benchmark also advanced 0.3 percent to a two-year high.
Japan's
Nikkei slipped 0.2 percent on a stronger yen.
The weekend
cyber attack, which slowed down after a security researcher stumbled on a way
to at least temporarily limit the worm's spread, was expected to speed up on
Monday when employees returning to work turned on their computers.
But with
little evidence of widespread disruption in the region on Monday, and
governments and businesses taking precautions to contain the impact, investors
appeared unalarmed, at least for now.
"Initial
reports suggest it was caught relatively early and limited to older
computers," said James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin.
"We are
seeing safe havens bid a little higher. Certainly contributing to this was the
launch of another missile test by North Korea over the weekend," he added.
"The Korean won has weakened, which may suggest the test has traders a
little on edge."
North Korea
said on Monday it had successfully tested a newly developed mid-to-long range
missile on Sunday aimed at verifying its capability to carry a "large
scale heavy nuclear warhead." The missile landed in the sea 97 km (60
miles) south of Russia.
South
Korea's military said it needs further analysis on the North's claim of
technical advancement and that the possibility of the isolated nation mastering
missile re-entry technology is low.
North Korea
is believed to be developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)
capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching the U.S. mainland.
The Korean
won weakened, with the dollar up 0.15 percent at 1,124.30 won on Monday. South
Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.1 percent.
Gold prices
rallied 0.2 percent to $1,231.24 an ounce, extending Friday's 0.3 percent gain.
U.S.
Treasury yields dropped to 2.292 percent, building on Friday's loss when they
ended at 2.333 percent, down from Thursday's close of 2.4 percent and their
biggest one-day drop in more than three weeks.
Chinese
shares added 0.35 percent, after the government soothed market fears of tighter
regulation saying bank risks were "completely controllable."
That
reassurance, as well as stronger retail sales and property investment data,
helped offset weakness in factory output and fixed-asset investment growth.
Hong Kong
shares gained 0.5 percent.
Australian
shares were down 0.2 percent.
On Friday,
the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower after growth
in retail sales and consumer prices missed expectations, and worries deepened
over the health of department stores after weak earnings reports.
The dollar
rose 0.1 percent to 113.39 yen , failing to make up most of Friday's 0.5
percent loss.
The dollar
index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major trade-weighted
peers, pulled back 0.1 percent to 99.151.
The euro was
little changed on Monday at $1.093, holding Friday's 0.7 percent gain.
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