Asia shares follow Wall St up despite weak US jobs data

Asia's markets rose Monday, taking their lead from a strong rally on Wall Street as investors brushed aside below-forecast US jobs data, with analysts suggesting the recent downturn may have come to an end. Tokyo rose 1.03 percent, Sydney added 0.56 percent and Shanghai was 0.44 percent higher while Hong Kong was up 0.19 percent and Seoul was flat. The US Labor Department said Friday that the economy added 113,000 jobs in January, far below the 175,000 forecast. However, analysts said the report did include some positive news, such as a rise in labour force participation. They also said unusually severe winter weather over the past few weeks may have been a factor in the soft data. US investors were not put off by the numbers, with the Dow jumping 1.06 percent, the S&P 500 up 1.33 percent and the Nasdaq 1.69 percent higher.