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Asian markets mostly rose Monday on the first full day of trade after the Christmas break, with confidence boosted by Chinese easing measures and another Wall Street record.
Shares in AirAsia tumbled after one of the budget carrier's jets went missing with 162 people on board Sunday and had still not been found early Monday.
Tokyo added 0.31 per cent, Hong Kong jumped 1.48 per cent, Sydney rose 1.01 per cent and Seoul lost 0.51 per cent while Shanghai rallied 1.26 per cent.
MALAYSIA share prices opened lower on Monday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index down 6.79 points to 1,757.65.
Volume was 229 million lots worth RM187.9 million.
Losers outnumbered gainers 215 to 108.
The dollar edged up a notch against the yen and the euro Friday, but trading was expected to remain light in this post-Christmas session.
The dollar USDJPY, +0.00% was at ¥120.39, from ¥120.15 late Thursday in North America. The euro EURUSD, +0.00% eased to $1.21.78 from $1.2222.
The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, +0.30% a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.3% at 82.74.
Santa continued to shower gifts on stock-market investors, as the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average once again closed at record levels.
The Dow industrials DJIA, +0.13% closed 23 points, or 0.1%, higher at 18,053, their 38th record close of the year.
The S&P 500 SPH5, +0.33% gained 6.89 points, or 0.3%, to 2,088.7, its 52nd record close. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.70% gained 33.39 points, or 0.7%, to close at 4,806.8.
Natural gas keeps falling: Rounding out the major energy trade, Nymex January natural gas NGF15, +0.13% fell 2.3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.007 per million British thermal units after briefly dipping below $3 earlier in the session. It is the lowest settlement since Sept. 25, 2012.
Natural gas hasn’t traded below $3 since 2012, according to FactSet. Warmer winter weather has been taking a toll on natural gas prices, which have tumbled more than 26% in December.
Natural-gas stockpiles decreased by less than analysts expected in data that was released on Wednesday.
