Asian stocks settle mostly up

Markets take a cue from falling greenback and tremendous strength in Gold

Asian stocks settled mostly up today as risk appetite swung in the action following a broad retreat in US dollar from late Friday highs. Stock specific activity dominated in the regional benchmarks as the investor's eyed the gains in commodities. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4% to 22,771.39 for its first advance in five sessions. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.9% to 3,338.66. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7%, Taiwan's Taiex climbed 0.1%, and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.1%. New Zealand's NZX 50 ended flat and the Philippines' main index fell 0.7%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures contract was recently up 70 points in screen trade, pointing to a strong opening on Wall Street.

The Indian market showed a notable gain on Monday, lifted by market heavyweight Reliance Industries after it made a preliminary, non-binding cash offer to buy a controlling stake in U.S-based bankrupt chemicals maker LyondellBasell. The stock ended up 3.31% on a heavy volume of 12.6 lakh shares.

The BSE Sensex opened on a positive note and rose to a high of 17,215 before finishing at 17,180, up 158 points or 0.93%.

In foreign-exchange markets, the euro was higher against the dollar at $1.4977 compared with $1.4851 in late New York trade Friday, and 133.25 yen against 132.26 yen -- helped by gold's gains and general bearish dollar sentiment. Nymex crude oil for January delivery was $78.42 a barrel, up 95 cents from the previous close. Gold snapped up to fresh highs above $1160 per ounce as investors continued to put faith in the yellow metal after the recent array of gains.