Asian stocks outside Australia and Singapore advanced on Monday, tracking the slightly stronger lead from Wall Street.

Major US averages finished higher on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite leading gains by notching up 0.4 percent as investors digested dovish signals from the US Federal Reserve minutes. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 ticked up 0.2 and 0.1 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, markets in Japan are closed for the Health and Sports Day holiday.

Mainland markets up

Share Market Live

NSE

China's share markets notched up early Monday, with the Shanghai Composite ticking up 0.2 percent, following a report by the China Securities Journal that quoted a senior central banker saying that the country's stock market correction is "almost over."

Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) told an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fun (IMF) and World Bank in Peru that the corrections in the mainland's equity market have had limited impact on the world's second-biggest economy as Beijing has taken a series of measures to avoid systemic risks, Reuters reported.

Among other indexes, the CSI300 Index edged up 0.3 percent and the smaller Shenzhen Composite advanced 0.7 percent.

ASX drops 0.8 percent

Australia's S&P ASX 200 snapped a five-day winning streak, hurt by declines in key banking and resources heavyweights.

National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia were the biggest losers in the financial space, down about 1 percent each. Westpac and Australia and New Zealand Banking sagged 0.7 and 0.3 percent respectively.

In the energy space, Santos and Oil Search widened losses to nearly 3 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum declined 1.8 percent. Market bellwether BHP Billiton fell 1.6 percent.

Kospi adds 0.1 percent

South Korea's Kospi index hovered just above the flatline amid mixed trading among major counters.

Blue chips such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor eased 1.2 and 0.6 percent respectively, while steelmaker Posco rose 2.5 percent.

Shares of Coway slipped 0.4 percent on the back of news that food-to-entertainment CJ Group is considering a bid for the water purifier sales and rental firm, according to a statement by a CJ Group spokesman on Monday.

Taiex gains 0.9 percent

Taiwan's weighted index charged up in early trade, with large-cap Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rising 1.1 percent.

Other tech-related plays also got off to a positive start; Hon Hai Precision Industry bounced up 1.4 percent, while Pegatron powered up 6.2 percent.

Southeast Asia rebounds

Shaking off a negative open, Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCi charged up 0.6 percent while Singapore's Straits Times index clawed back losses to hover in neutral territory.

First Published:Oct 12, 2015 7:41 AM IST