In This Article:
* Australian shares hit eight-month high; U.S. futures jump
* Currencies, commodities steady as equities rise
* China data due at 0200 GMT
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Tom Westbrook
SYDNEY, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Asia's stock markets opened higher on Monday, as vaccine optimism offset worries about rising coronavirus cases in Europe and new lockdowns in the United States, while oil prices and risk-exposed currencies also edged higher.
Japan's Nikkei opened 1% higher at 29-year peak. Australia's ASX 200 rose 1% to an eight-month high and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan stood at its highest since January 2018.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.7% following the index's record closing high on Friday and futures pointed to positive a positive start to the week in Hong Kong.
The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, was marginally lower against the Antipodean currencies. Oil prices crept higher, though not enough to recoup late-week losses on worries about the winter ahead.
Traders are expecting more good vaccine news as soon as this week from drugmaker Moderna, following the successful trial of Pfizer's similar drug - and that seems enough to assuage nearer-term concerns about the virus' economic harm.
"There's just mountains of cash sitting on the sidelines, waiting to be put to work and since we've got this vaccine news, as well as diminished risk around the U.S. elections, all of this is flying into equities," said Kyle Rodda, analyst at IG Markets. "Everyone's thinking now that it's the cue to get in."
President Donald Trump appeared on Sunday to acknowledge losing the U.S. election but then backtracked and said he concedes "nothing," while President-elect Joe Biden focused on tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
In North Asia, Japan's quarterly economic growth beat expectations while China's factory output and retail trade data is due later in the day.
Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies, including China and Japan but excluding the United States agreed to a trade deal over the weekend which, although light on detail or immediate tariff cuts, is a landmark pact for East Asian exporters.
"(The) agreement ... signals that Asia keeps pushing ahead with trade liberalisation even as other regions have become more sceptical," said HSBC economists Frederic Neumann and Shanella Rajanayagam in a note.
"As such, it may reinforce a trend that's been already underway for decades: that the global centre of economic gravity keeps pushing relentlessly to the East."