Asia Shares Rally on Upbeat US, Japan, China Data

Asian markets rallied Monday, buoyed by another record close on Wall Street in response to an impressive US jobs report, an upward revision of Japanese economic growth and healthy Chinese export figures.

The euro ticked up as the upbeat outlook provided enough confidence for traders to look into higher yielding, higher risk assets.

Tokyo rose 0.49 per cent, Hong Kong was 0.59 per cent higher, Seoul advanced 0.10 per cent and Shanghai edged up 0.10 per cent.

Sydney was closed for a public holiday.

US shares continued their recent run of records on Friday after the Labor Department said the world's biggest economy added a net 217,000 jobs in May, in line with expectations.

Economists cheered the solid report, which marked the fourth straight month that more than 200,000 jobs had been created.

The figures are the latest in a string of data out of the United States indicating its recovery is well on track, even as the Federal Reserve winds down its multi-billion-dollar stimulus programme.

The Dow climbed 0.52 per cent and the S&P 500 jumped 0.46 per cent, both ending at record highs. The tech-rich Nasdaq added 0.59 per cent to close at its best level since mid-March.

On Monday, Japan unveiled revised data showing its economy grew 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 as consumers stepped up shopping before April's sales tax rise -- the strongest in more than two years.

On an annualised basis -- a hypothetical figure that stretches the pace of growth over the course of a year -- the economy grew 6.7 per cent.

Sunday saw China release figures showing the country's key exports jumped seven percent in May, much better than the 0.9 per cent seen in April and in line with forecasts of 7.2 per cent.

However, imports dipped surprisingly, meaning the trade surplus surged 75 per cent year on year to $35.92 billion, much more than expectations of $23.4 billion.

The results came a week after reports showed a solid increase in manufacturing activity, easing concerns about the strength of the Asian economic giant and key driver of global growth.

On foreign exchange markets the yen, considered a safe bet in times of uncertainty, eased against the dollar and euro.

The greenback bought 102.60 yen compared with 102.50 yen in New York Friday.

The euro briefly topped 140 yen in morning Tokyo trade before easing back to 139.93 yen, although that is still up from the 139.80 yen in late US trade.

The single currency was also at $1.3646 against $1.3641 in New York.

Oil prices also rose. West Texas Intermediate gained 17 cents to stand at $102.83 in early Asian trade for its July delivery while Brent North Sea crude for July also rose seven cents to reach $108.68 per barrel.

Gold fetched $1,253.51 an ounce at 0210 GMT compared with $1,251.85 late Friday