Asian stock indexes rose Monday, AP reported. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.4 percent to 22,475.94 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3 percent to 2,445.73. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.5 percent to 30,945.57 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.6 percent to 3,092.97. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 percent to 6,020.30. Southeast Asian indexes were mostly higher. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 11 cents to $65.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.23 to settle at $65.81 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 35 cents to $76.44 per barrel. The dollar rose to 109.68 yen from 109.52 yen in late trading Friday. The euro strengthened to $1.1687 from $1.1662.
