Asia shares mostly up after Wall St record

Asian markets mostly rose on Monday following a record close on Wall Street that was fuelled by upbeat US data, while Tokyo was boosted by a weaker yen. The euro sat around a three-month low against the greenback following big gains for Euro-sceptic candidates in European Parliament elections, while traders were also spooked by a fall in an index of German business confidence. Tokyo shares closed up 0.97 per cent, or 140.35 points to finish at 14,602.52 and Sydney rose 0.36 per cent, or 20.013 points, to 5512.8 while Seoul slipped 0.34 per cent, or 6.82 points to 2,010.35. Chinese stocks ended higher in afternoon trade on Monday, as remarks by President Xi Jinping about developing electric vehicles boosted the sector, while government moves to loosen restrictions on the property market in some cities and open up more projects to private investment set a positive tone, analysts said. Shanghai added 0.34 per cent, or 6.91 points, to 2,041.48 while Hong Kong was flat, edging down 2.68 points to 22,963.18. Regional markets last week enjoyed broad advances after a sharp improvement in Chinese manufacturing activity and positive comments about interest rates from the US Federal Reserve, according to AFP.