Asian stocks were mostly higher on Monday although trading was quieter than usual with the Tokyo stock market closed for a public holiday.

Shares in Japan tracked Wall Street gains on Friday as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's plans to bolster the US economy. The central bank said it would buy $40bn of mortgage-backed debt each month until the US job market improves. It also said it would keep interest rates ultra low at 0.25% until 2015.

Sentiment also contined to be boosted by European Central Bank's measures to tackle Europe's ongoing debt crisis.

The Nikkei 225 index rose 1.8% to close at 9,159.39 points on Friday and was closed on Monday. The Hang Seng added 28 points at 20,658 in Hong Kong, hitting a over a four month high after heavy trading volumes.

Chinese oil firm Cnooc pushed sharply higher, rising 3.8%, following a spike in crude oil futures. PetroChina advanced 1.1%.

Elsewhere Zijin Mining shone 3% in Hong Kong as gold prices shot ahead.

Gains among commodity firms outweighed weakness in Chinese property companies such as China Resources Land and China Overseas Land which fell 3.3% and 1.7% respectively after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced another round of mortgage tightening measures in a bid to cool the property market.

Henderson Land Development eased 0.4% while Sun Hung Kai Properties bucked the downward trend to add 1.9%.



CJ

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