Asian stocks rose on Monday, extending a two-week rally, as an upbeat reading on U.S. consumer confidence bolstered optimism about the economic recovery in the world's largest economy. Adding to the positive sentiment, the Japanese government upgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in two months, saying it expects economic recovery to resume gradually, supported by improvement in confidence and export conditions as a weak yen helped revive the country's exports and factory output.
Investors await Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday and comments from other Fed presidents for signals on the prospects of stimulus policies.
Japan's Nikkei index jumped 1.5 percent to 15,361, its highest level in five years and five months, drawing support from a weaker yen and optimism over the growth outlook after the government revised upward its basic assessment of the economy in its May report. The broader Topix index advanced 1.3 percent. Mitsubishi Motors soared over 12 percent on a Nikkei report that it will launch a revised version of its Mirage compact in Southeast Asian markets.
Heavyweight SoftBank rebounded 4.7 percent after two straight days of profit taking, while Fast Retailing added 0.8 percent. Among exporters, Honda Motor rose 2.3 percent, Tokyo Electron rallied 3.8 percent and Advantest climbed 4.2 percent. Tokyo Electric Power led utilities higher, climbing 16 percent amid reports that it will file an application to restart reactors. Rival Kansai Electric Power soared 7.5 percent.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and JFE Holdings rose 4-7 percent after Mizuho Securities upgraded the sector to "overweight" from "underweight". Kobe Steel also closed 11 percent higher after it decided to sell all 15.1 million Nabtesco shares it holds, along with 4.01 million shares held through a retirement benefits trust, to improve its capital efficiency. Sharp soared 17 percent after Goldman Sachs said it plans to invest about 300 billion yen into Japanese renewable energy projects over the next five years.
China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8 percent, gaining for a fourth straight session, as investors went bargain hunting in banking stocks on prospects of solid earnings growth. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rallied 1.8 percent to its highest level since early February.
Australian shares ended well off their day's highs, with falling metal prices limiting the upside. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.2 percent early in the session before paring gains to end half a percent higher at 5,209. BHP Billiton rose 1.1 percent and Rio Tinto edged up 0.2 percent, while gold miner Newcrest eased 0.8 percent as gold extended declines to its weakest level in over a month. Banks ended mostly higher, with Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac rising between 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent.
Construction giant Leighton Holdings rallied 3.7 percent after the construction giant said it is establishing a solid platform for future profitability. Santos closed 1.6 percent higher after the oil and gas firm said it has started producing oil at its Fletcher Finucane project ahead of schedule. Insurer QBE Insurance rose 1.8 percent and pallets supplier Brambles advanced 0.6 percent amid expectations that the Australian dollar could fall as low as 90 U.S. cents in the coming weeks.
South Korea's Kospi average eased 0.2 percent on geopolitical concerns after North Korea fired four short-range missiles during the weekend. The weakening of the South Korean currency helped to limit the downside to some extent. The Japanese yen edged up from a 4-1/2-year low against the dollar after Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said the currency's excessive strength has "corrected" and a further slide in the yen could "have a negative impact on people's lives."
New Zealand shares ended flat despite firm regional cues. The benchmark NZX-50 closed up 0.8 points or 0.02 percent higher at 4,599, led by Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. Shares of the exporter, which gets over 50 percent of its income in U.S. dollars, soared 4.5 percent on a weaker kiwi dollar amid expectations an improving U.S. economy may prompt the Federal Reserve to end its bond purchases later this year. Among those that fell, Telecom dropped 1.4 percent, Fletcher Building & Warehouse Group lost about 2 percent each, and OceanaGold tumbled 3.6 percent.
Elsewhere, India's Sensex was marginally higher, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index rose 1.4 percent, Malaysia's KLSE Composite added half a percent, Singapore's Straits Times was moving up 0.1 percent and the Taiwan Weighted average closed 0.1 percent higher.
U.S. stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching fresh record highs, as investors cheered upbeat economic reports on consumer sentiment and leading economic indicators as well as comments from Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Narayana Kocherlakota, who continued to make the case for an accommodative monetary policy. The Dow gained 0.8 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 added about a percent each.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.