Asia markets jump higher following Wall Street gains

The Shanghai composite was up 0.25 percent in early trade, while the Shenzhen composite rose 0.35 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.44 percent.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.42 percent while the Topix index added 0.16 percent. The yen, considered a safe haven currency, traded at 111.31 to the dollar, weakening from levels near 110.00 in the previous week as investors took on more risk.

In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.38 percent.

Australia’s benchmark ASX 200 was up 0.85 percent as most sectors advanced. The heavily weighted financial subindex added 1.24 percent while the energy subindex was up 1.29 percent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to announce its monetary policy decision at 2:30 p.m. local time, which would be followed by the release of the Federal Budget. Both of those instances are likely to provide direction for the Australian dollar, which traded at $0.7103 at 9:37 a.m. HK/SIN.

“The risk is the RBA adopts a more dovish tone that would further weigh on Australian interest rate expectations and (the Australian dollar),” Richard Grace, chief currency strategist and head of international economics at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a morning note.

“However, the encouraging signs of a pickup in global economic activity have now reduced that risk, as has the risk of a large fiscal stimulus by the Australian government,” he added.

Data released Monday showed promising signs in the world’s two largest economies, the U.S. and China, which helped ease fears of a global economic slowdown. U.S. manufacturing activity expanded last month, rebounding from its lowest level since late 2016. In China, the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index jumped to 50.8 in March — its highest level in eight months — beating economists’ expectations of a 49.9 print.

“Better-than-expected US data helped ease fears about the US growth outlook (for the moment) while the rebound in China’s manufacturing data continued to ripple across global markets,” analysts at ANZ Research said in a morning note. “Recession chatter very much took a back seat as the US yield curve bear steepened.”

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of peers, last traded at 97.336, climbing from levels near 96.600 in the previous week.

Oil prices rose around 2 percent on Monday to new 2019 highs. Global benchmark Brent was up over 2 percent at $69.03 a barrel while U.S. crude futures were also up at $61.86 in the previous session. Production cuts from OPEC helped push the group’s supply to a four-year low in March while Venezuela’s output fell further due to U.S. sanctions and power outages, Reuters reported.

Elsewhere, the U.K. was no closer to resolving the chaos surrounding its departure from the European Union. On Monday, the British parliament failed to find a majority of its own for any alternative to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

The British pound traded at $1.3061, dropping from levels near $1.3200 last week.

— Reuters contributed to this report.