Asian shares climb, Tokyo gains on hopes for reopening

Asian shares are mostly higher, with Tokyo stocks gaining on expectations that a pandemic state of emergency will be lifted for all of Japan.

Asian Shares

• Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.5% in morning trading to 20,682.78.
• South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 1,981.92.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.4% to 5,572.30.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 22,659.62.
• The Shanghai Composite was little changed, edging 0.1% higher to 2,815.94.

Commodities

• In other trading Monday, benchmark US crude oil picked up 2 cents to $33.27 a barrel.
• It fell 2%, or 67 cents, to $33.25 a barrel on Friday.
• Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 22 cents to $34.91 a barrel.
• Crude oil started the year at about $60 a barrel and then plummeted as demand sank due to widespread travel and business shutdowns related to the coronavirus.

Currency Markets

• The US dollar inched up to 107.72 Japanese yen from 107.63 yen late Friday.
• The euro inched down to $1.0892 from $1.0901.