Investing.com - Asian stocks rose on Monday, with Japan bouncing back from a sharp fall last week.
The Nikkei 225 was up 1.7%, as stocks in Tokyo recovered more than half of a 3% fall on Friday--the market's worst session in close to four months. Sentiment took a hit at the end of last week after U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq, which pushed the dollar below the Yen102 mark.
Other regional markets also gained with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 up by 0.6% and South Korea's KOSPI added 0.4%.
The regional earnings season rolled on, with a number of Australian stocks responding to announcements. Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) added 0.7% after the lender said its earnings and margins rose as it continued to boost lending amid rising competition.
Electrical retailer JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH). sank 7.3% after it said that sales fell 5.5% last month after stripping out the impact of new store openings, hurt by the falling demand for tablet computers--such as iPads.
Last week, the Dow 30 rose 1.13%, the S&P 500index rose 1.15%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.83% on Friday.
In the week ahead, investors will be continuing to monitor geopolitical risk, while preliminary data on second quarter growth from the euro zone and Japan will be closely watched. Markets watchers will also be looking ahead to Wednesday’s inflation report from the Bank of England and the U.S. report on retail sales.
On Monday, Switzerland is to publish data on retail sales, the government measure of consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of overall economic activity. Canada is to release data on housing starts.