Shares advanced Monday in Asia, buoyed by surprisingly strong U.S. jobs figures that helped power a surge on Wall Street on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.4% to 23,178.10, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.2% to 24,805.00 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.3%, to 2,939.19. In South Korea, the Kospi edged 0.1% higher to 2,184.33. India's Sensex surged 1.5% to 34,780.93. Australia's markets were closed for a holiday, AP reported. Benchmark U.S. crude oil for July delivery rose $2.14 to settle at $39.55 a barrel Friday. Brent crude oil rose $2.31 to $42.30 a barrel. In April, it plunged to near $20 a barrel as the pandemic clobbered demand. In currency dealings, the dollar fetched 109.53 Japanese yen, down from 109.59 yen on Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1286 from $1.1288.
