Asia markets opened higher on Monday, with investors' risk sentiment likely improving from Friday's better-than-expected US jobs number as they await to hear Pyongyang's response to UN sanctions over the weekend.

Share Market Live

NSE

The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday over its intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July. Reuters said the sanctions could slash the reclusive regime's USD 3 billion annual export revenue by a third.

Some analysts, however, said it is unlikely that the sanctions could deter leader Kim Jong Un from pursuing his nuclear weapons ambitions.

In Australia, the ASX 200 climbed 0.76 percent in early trade. Shares of Commonwealth Bank declined 0.48 percent, after it said a "coding error" on the software was responsible for the "vast majority" of anti-money laundering law breaches it was accused of last week by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

Commonwealth Bank said it will file a statement of defense and that it does not "intend to litigate this matter publicly."

Shares of other major banks Down Under rose: ANZ shares climbed 1.05 percent, Westpac was up 0.95 percent and the National Australia Bank added 1.04 percent.

Major Australian miners also advanced, with Rio Tinto shares up 1.7 percent, Fortescue adding 1.84 percent and BHP Billiton climbing 1.87 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.48 percent, and the Topix index was up 0.49 percent. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was up 0.35 percent.

Elsewhere, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, traded at 93.452, rising from levels below 92.800 late last week. The dollar also received a small boost on Friday, following the jobs report — the US economy added 209,000 jobs in July, according to the Labor Department. That was well above the expected gain of 183,000.

Among other currency majors, the Japanese yen traded at 110.80 to the dollar at 8:16 a.m. HK/SIN, weakening a touch from levels near 110.00 in the last week. Major export stocks were higher in early trade: Toyota was up 1.69 percent, Nissan added 0.55 percent and Mitsubishi Electric gained 0.78 percent.

A weaker yen is seen as a positive for exporters because it increases the value of overseas earnings when they are translated back into their home currency.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar traded at USD 0.7932 and the euro was at USD 1.1783.

First Published:Aug 7, 2017 7:22 AM IST