Asian shares rose on Monday as encouraging U.S. jobs and consumer data reinforced views that the world's largest economy is slowly but steadily recovering, fueling a move into riskier assets and out of safe havens like the yen.
Non-farm payrolls shed 36,000 jobs in February compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a loss of 50,000. Investors had been worried that severe winter weather would cause a larger drop.
Japan's Nikkei Average closed 2.03
percent higher, boosted by better than expected U.S. jobs data, with exporters gaining on a weaker yen and resource-linked firms up on gains in commodities prices.
Fujitsu, Japan's largest IT services firm, slipped 3.6 percent after it said on Saturday it has dismissed advisor Kuniaki Nozoe amid a dispute over the circumstances that led to his abrupt resignation as president last year.
The benchmark Nikkei gained 216.96 points to 10,579.65, while the broader Topix gained 1.8 percent to 927.31.
JFE Holdings, the world's sixth-largest steelmaker, rose 2.3 percent after it said on Friday it had agreed with BHP Billiton to pay $200 per ton for coking coal for April-June.
Nippon Steel gained 2.3 percent to 351 yen. The world's second-biggest steelmaker declined to comment on whether it had struck a deal with BHP, the world's largest diversified miner.
Exporters climbed, with Canon up 2.3 and Honda Motor rising 3.5 percent while Sony rose 3.1 percent.
Seoul shares finished up 1.56 percent, with better than expected U.S. job data boosting sentiment and telecom issues including SK Telecom gaining after the industry regulator urged marketing spending cuts.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 25.4 points at 1,660.04 points.
Shares in telecommunications issues rallied after the Korea Communications Commission late on Friday urged mobile phone operators to cut marketing expenses and invest more in research
and development.
Shares in SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile phone operator, rose 3.5 percent and KT, the dominant fixed-line operator and No.2 mobile carrier, jumped 6.9 percent.
But Hanwha retreated 1.9 percent after Korea Life Insurance, in which Hanwha holds a 28.2 percent stake, priced its initial public offering below the indicative range.
Steel issues rallied amid strengthening expectations the Chinese yuan will rise in the near future, analysts said. China flagged on Saturday it would let the yuan resume its rise at some point.
Shares in POSCO, the world's No.4 steelmaker, were up 3.3 percent and Hyundai Steel gained 4.45 percent.
Australia Logs 7th-Day Win
Australian shares climbed for the seventh straight session, rising 0.85 percent on Monday, boosted by strong data from U.S that raised hopes of a global recovery, and a major takeover in the Australian energy sector.
U.S. stocks jumped and the Nasdaq hit an 18-month closing high on Friday, as U.S. employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month and consumers showed signs of shedding their penny-pinching ways.
The benchmark ended the session 40.66 points higher at 4,807.90, its highest level since Jan. 21. It rose 0.4 percent on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index was up 0.25 percent at 3,222.82 points.
Financials Lift HK, China
Hong Kong shares advanced 1.9 percent with smaller-than-expected job losses in the United States lifting risk appetite and helping to send Chinese financial shares higher.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 389.12 points at 21,186.09. The China Enterprises Index of top locally listed mainland Chinese stocks was up 2.1 percent at 12,174.71.
China Construction Bank (CCB) rose 2 percent to a six-week high as it said it expected its new lending to grow more than 10 percent this year, but sees its provision ratio for non-performing loans remaining above 170 percent.
ICBC was up 1.9 percent, extending its 0.87 percent gain in the previous session. ICBC, the world's biggest bank by market capitalization, said on Sunday that its total deposits at the end of 2009 amounted to 10.2 trillion yuan ($1,494 billion).
Shares of China Life Insurance rose 1.5 percent after the world's biggest life insurer by market value said it was looking to acquire a bank, following its peers as China relaxes restrictions on banks and insurance companies investing in each other.
Southeast Asian markets mirrored gained in the region with the Straits Times Index up 1.5 percent and Malaysia's KL Composite rising 1.7 percent in afternoon trade.
