Nikkei, Taiex at 7-year highs

Asia-Pacific equities markets saw gains on Monday. Both the Taiex index in Taiwan and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo closed at their highest levels in 7 years. The Taiex added 1.98 percent to 9,369.84, while the Nikkei gained 0.7 percent to 18,261.98. Also in Tokyo, the Topix index was also 0.7 percent higher as well to close at 1,792.23. Elsewhere in the region, the Sensex added 0.55 percent to 15,045.73 in India. In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries were 0.73 percent higher to 6,429.5, while the S&P/ASX200 ended the session at 6,400.6. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 1.27 percent to 22,817.43, while the Straits Times index in Singapore gained 1.65 percent to 3,626.72.

Most European markets were higher on the session. The main exception on the continent was the IBEX, which dropped 0.56 percent to 14,974.7 in Madrid. In Paris, the CAC-40 was 0.03 percent higher to 6,104.39, while the Dax added 0.36 percent to 8,077.39 in Frankfurt. In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.34 percent to 6,712.7, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.16 percent to 11,847.8.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.34 percent to 13,657.53, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.08 percent to 2,668.52 and the S&P 500 was 0.07 percent higher to 1,531.51.

Crude oil prices were mixed, with Brent crude higher on the session and West Texas Intermediate crude lower in early afternoon trade in New York. Precious metals price were higher, but base metals were mixed.

In currencies trade, the yen weakened, as did the US dollar. Sterling was helped by data that showed that manufacturers will need to rise prices in order to help margins.

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