2/19/2012 6:01 PM ET
(RTTNews) - The Asian stock markets are expected to open mixed to higher on Monday, nudged into the green by optimism that European finance ministers will approve a new bailout package for Greece later in the day.
Limiting the upside are rising tensions in the Middle East as Iran has discontinued the sale of oil to any British of French companies, in response to the latest round of EU sanctions - although the price of oil is climbing as a result.
The major U.S. averages were mixed on Friday, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ posting a modest loss of 8.07 points or 0.3 percent to finish at 2,951.78. The Dow climbed 45.79 points or 0.4 percent to end at 12,989.87 and the S&P 500 edged up 3.19 points or 0.2 percent to 1,361.23.
The major European markets also were higher on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the day up by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both surged 1.4 percent.
The Asian markets were broadly higher on Friday, led by the 1.58 percent surge from Japan's Nikkei 225. South Korea's KOSPI collected 1.30 percent, while Indonesia added 1.25 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.01 percent, Singapore's Straits Times gathered 0.79 percent, India was up 0.75 percent, Malaysia added 0.43 percent, Australia collected 0.38 percent, Taiwan jumped 0.31 percent, New Zealand rose 0.08 percent and China inched higher by 0.1 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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