Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday, as oil prices rallied on supply outages in Canada and amid surprise over the exit of Saudi Arabia's veteran oil minister Ali al-Naimi.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 109.31 points, or 0.7%, to 16,216.03
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regained 46.94 points, or 0.2%, to 20,156.81
The dollar/yen pair was trading up 0.4% at 107.52. A weaker yen is generally better for Japanese manufacturers, because it makes their products cheaper for overseas buyers.
The Bank of Japan minutes released on Monday had shown that policymakers agreed that the economy was recovering, but some policymakers warned of weaker consumer sentiment, and cast doubts over the effectiveness of negative interest rates
Saudi Arabia replaced its long-time oil minister Ali al-Naimi with Khalid al-Falih, the chairman of Saudi Aramco, in a move analysts said signaled a new era for crude markets and appeared to be a reaffirmation of Saudi policy to let oil set its own price.
Australian oil producers were all in the green, with Santos up 1.7%, Oil Search 1.2% higher and Origin Energy gaining 2.4%, while Hong Kong-listed shares of Petrochina were down 0.2% and mainland-listed shares of China Oilfield fell 2.6%
Shares of major resource producers were struggling; Rio Tinto lost 2.1%, while BHP Billiton was lower by 0.3%. Fortescue Metals dropped 2.3%.
CHINA
Investors were also digesting China's weaker trade figures released Sunday, and mulling Federal Reserve interest rate expectations after U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday showed a slide in the headline job number to 160,000.
The CSI 300 Index dropped 64.74 points, or 2.1%, to 3,065.62.
In China, Baoshan Steel fell 4.6% Baotou Steel fell 5.7% and Aluminium Corp of China was down 4.4%.
In other markets;
In Korea, the Kospi Index returned to business after a long weekend, losing 8.9 points, or 0.5%, to 1,967.81
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index recovered 35.26 points, or 1.3%, to 2,766.06
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index moved downward 14.6 points, or 0.2%, to 8,131.83
New Zealand’s NZX 50 lost 13.06 points, or 0.2%, to 6,885.05
The ASX 200 added 28.65 points, or 0.5%, to 5,320.70
