A surprising message from electronics giant Samsung about repurchasing shares and signals of support for the economy from the regime in China pulled up stock indexes in Asia in Monday's initial trading.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was up nearly 2 percent and in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng showed a plus of 1.2 percent.
In Shanghai and Shenzhen, the composite indexes pointed in different directions – up 1.2 in Shanghai but down 0.2 percent in Shenzhen.
In Tokyo, it was minus 1 percent for the Nikkei 225 index, while the broader Topix was at minus 0.8 percent.
