Investing.com - Asian markets motly gained on Monday with Shanghai narrowly bucking the trend as the likely pasage of US tax cuts offered broad support for equities.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.19%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.68%.
In Greater China, the Hang Seng index rose 0.68% and the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.07%.
in Japan, Obayashi shares fell 0.51% following Nikkei headlines that Japanese prosecutors are likely to raid the company's offices as part of a bid-rigging investigation. Other Japanese construction companies Nikkei said was involved in the probe were also lower on the day: Taisei Corporation was down 3.42%, Shimizu Corporation shed 2.35% and Kajima Corporation fell 3.37%.
Meanwhile, Australia's Aconex saw its shares jump over 40% after the cloud collaboration company announced it had received a A$1.6 billion ($1.22 billion) acquisition offer from Oracle (NYSE:ORCL). Oracle has offered A$7.80 per share, a 47% premium above Aconex's Friday closing price.
Japan reported its trade balance for November came in at a surplus of ¥113 billion, compared with a ¥55 billion deficit expected. China said house prices gained 5.1% in November, compared with a 5.4% gain the previous month.
Last week, The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 139 points to 24,651.74, a record. The S&P 500 gained 0.9% to finish at 2,675.81, also hitting an all-time high. The Nasdaq composite advanced 1.2% to a record close of 6,936.58.