Shares in Asia-Pacific mostly rose on Monday.
The Nikkei 225 gained two points to 29,685.37.
Japan’s exports in March surged 16.1% as compared with a year earlier, Ministry of Finance data showed Monday. That was much higher than the 11.6% increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.07 per U.S. dollar, stronger than levels above 109.2 against the greenback seen last week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shot higher 136.44 points, or 0.5%, to 29,106.15.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba slipped 1.5% on Monday. That came after Ant Group said in a tweet that a recent report by Reuters that the firm was looking at ways for Jack Ma to exit were "untrue and baseless."
Reuters reported over the weekend that financial technology giant Ant is "exploring options" for Ma to divest his stake in the firm and "give up control," citing "a source familiar with regulators’ thinking and two people with close ties to the company."
Other Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech firms were mixed, with Tencent down 0.8% while Baidu gained 1.7%.
Meanwhile, Trip.com shares in Hong Kong jumped about 4.6% from their issue price as they made their debut in the city on Monday.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7772, having risen from below $0.768 last week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 jumped 120.84 points, or 2.4%, to 5,087.02
In Singapore, the Straits Times index added 7.96 points, or 0.3%, to 3,209.72
In Korea, the Kospi index eked 0.22 points to 3,209.72.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index leaped 104.47 points, or 0.6%, to 17,263.28
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was positive 83.11 points, or 0.7%, to 12,767.84.
In Australia, the ASX 200 inched ahead 2.18 points to 7,065.64.
