Asia shares lag Wall Street gains, dollar becalmed

Reuters: Asian shares crept ahead on Monday as Wall Street gathered momentum into a busy week of earnings with more than 100 major companies due to report, while the dollar was again hobbled by a lack of progress on U.S. fiscal stimulus.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.3%, with Australia ahead by 0.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2% in the wake of a firmer finish on Wall Street. 

On Wall Street, banks had ended Friday strongly as President Donald Trump moved to roll back regulations intended to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis.

JP Morgan Chase shares closed up 3.1% and helped push the S&P bank index up 2.6%. The Dow rose 0.94%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.73% and the Nasdaq 0.54%.

That cautious outlook kept the dollar softer on the yen at 112.48 yen, having lost 2.3% last week in its worst weekly performance since late July.

The euro was a fraction firmer at $1.0782 while the dollar dipped against a basket of currencies to 95.713.