HONG KONG: Asian shares rose Monday on hopes that crews would avert a meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant, but dealers were still cautious while air strikes in Libya hurt sentiment and sent oil higher.
With Tokyo's stock exchanges closed for a public holiday, the region extended Friday's gains that came after a week of volatility in which billions of dollars were wiped out following the quake-tsunami terror and atomic crisis.
Hong Kong rose 1.31 percent in the morning, Sydney gained 0.25 percent, Seoul advanced 0.94 percent and Taipei was 1.16 percent higher.
Shanghai added 0.35 percent despite the central bank on Friday increasing the amount of money lenders must hold in reserve, in its latest bid to mop up liquidity in the economy and rein in inflation.
The gains followed a second straight gain for the Dow on Friday.
Traders sent markets higher Friday after the Group of Seven richest economies agreed to jointly intervene in currency markets to rein in the yen, which surged to a post-World War Two high of 76.54 against the dollar in the wake of the March 11 disasters.
In Monday morning Asian trade, the dollar was changing hands at 80.90 yen from 80.59 late Friday in the United States, while the euro was at 114.58 yen compared with 114.91. The European unit was flat at $1.4177.
The World Bank said the catastrophe could cost the world's third-biggest economy up to $235 billion. That would be the equivalent of 4.0 percent of output, in an economy that has already been struggling for two decades.
Emergency personnel working to avert a radiation release from the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant managed over the weekend to restore an external electricity supply to one of the reactors in a bid to get cooling systems working again.
The news came after a week of high tension at the complex, which was last week rocked by a series of explosions and fires that stoked concerns of a meltdown.
But power at the unit is not yet restored, a nuclear safety agency spokesman said, and in the meantime fire trucks continue to spray water to help cool reactor fuel pools.
"Investors have been sidelined after the recovery following Japan's nuclear crisis last week," MF Global senior institutional trader Anthony Anderson told Dow Jones Newswires.
"The rise on Wall Street was encouraging, but it closed well off the high and there's some nervousness about Libya as well as Japan, with markets closed there today."
Crude rose as Western forces staged air strikes to halt Moamer Kadhafi's attacks on civilians in oil-rich Libya, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, gained $1.88 to $102.95 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May was up $2.14 to $116.07.
And Victor Shum, senior principal for Purvin and Gertz international energy consultants in Singapore, warned that the bombardment could see oil installations hit by collateral damage or internal sabotage.
The US, Britain and France pounded Libya with aircraft and cruise missiles after the UN Security Council authorised the use of "all necessary means" to protect civilians and enforce a ceasefire and no-fly zone against Kadhafi's forces.
"The unrest in the Middle East and North African region may spread... and hence the contagion effect on oil prices remains. Oil supply disruption is going to support prices in its triple digits," Shum told AFP.
Gold opened at $1,425.50-$1,426.50 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Friday's close of $1,413.00-$1,414.00.
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