Upwards on Asia's Exchanges

It looked bright on several of Asia's leading stock exchanges as the trading week began.

In Japan, the important Nikkei 225 was up 1.3 percent after a few hours of trading, while the broader Topix index had risen by 1.2 percent. Shanghai's and Shenzhen's composite index were up 0.2 and 0.9 percent, respectively.

In Hong Kong, however, the outlook was gloomier. The Hang Seng index had fallen by 0.2 percent by lunchtime.