Equities started the month on a broadly positive note, following all-time highs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in New York on Friday.
Seoul and Taipei jumped more than 4 per cent to hit fresh records.
South Korean chip giant SK hynix was the standout, piling on more than 10 per cent, while rival Samsung was up around 4 per cent. Taiwanese counterpart TSMC was almost 7 per cent up.
Hong Kong also saw strong gains thanks to a surge in Chinese tech firms, including Alibaba, while Singapore, Manila and Jakarta were also up.
Tokyo and Shanghai were closed for holidays.
However, Chris Weston at Pepperstone said: “After a strong April for risk assets, we need to remain open-minded about what May will bring.
“This week should provide early signals, but with risk assets pricing in a lot of good news, and rightly so, the time for that to be validated may now be here.”
On currency markets, the yen was holding its own against the dollar after a rally on Thursday was said to have come on the back of Japanese intervention.
Officials were said to have spent at least US$32 billion in the foreign exchange market, according to multiple reports, in its first such move to prop up the yen since 2024.
Read the full article here
