Asian Shares Rise, Brace for Volatility in China

Shares in Asia rose Monday even as investors braced for a potentially volatile day in China, where markets are set to reopen following a week-long holiday.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 4.1% at 15564.20 and the Japanese yen continued to ease from its strongest level in more than one year against the U.S. dollar.

Australia's S&P ASX 200 gained 0.9% at 4806.70.

Japan was rising from its lowest close since October 2014 while Australia was up from its lowest close since July 2013.

South Korea's Kospi was up 1%.

A tentative recovery was forming after U.S. stocks staged a rally Friday. Gains in the oil market pushed up energy shares. Better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data from last week and relatively sound U.S. corporate earnings were soothing some concerns about the global economy.

"Some buyback is kicking in because of attractive valuations," said Tomoichiro Kubota, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities, "but what we are seeing probably isn't a full-fledged recovery yet."

But analysts remain cautious that global markets have bottomed. Chinese stock markets reopen Monday after being closed last week for the Lunar New Year and are expected to catch up with losses elsewhere around the world. The Nikkei, down 11% last week, had its worst weekly performance since October 2008, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.4%.

Investors await a batch of Chinese economic data, including export and import figures later in the day. Exports likely dropped 2.4% year-over-year in January in dollar terms, steeper than a 1.4% decline in December, according to economists' forecasts.

Earlier, data from Japan showed its economy contracted 1.4% in the fourth quarter. The fall was the second time in three quarters and larger than a 1.2% contraction forecast by economists.

The Japanese yen was last down 0.2% at ¥ 113.45 to one U.S. dollar, compared with late Friday.

Brent crude oil prices were down 1.5% at $32.86 a barrel early in Asia Monday, reversing a recovery in the U.S. on Friday.

--Kosaku Narioka and Eleanor Warnock contributed to this article

Write to Chao Deng at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 14, 2016 20:15 ET (01:15 GMT)

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