2018.01.0722:38:00UTC+00Asian Stocks Rally as Investors Await Corporate Earnings

Asian shares edge up on Monday on the back of solid gains in Wall Street from the last season. Due to the lack of economic data releases during the session, majority of investors are on standby for earnings releases from regional corporates later this week.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200, rising 0.21 percent in the morning. The country's “Big Four” banks traded higher on the day, with ANZ rising 0.52 percent. Gold producers, on the other hand, fell, with the All Ordinaries Gold index sliding by 0.93 percent.

South Korea's Kospi was near break even levels, inching up 0.08 percent after sliding earlier below the flat line. Increases in retailers and steelmakers were countered by the losses in several heavyweight tech stocks. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix declined 1.04 percent and 1.39 percent respectively.

Japanese markets are closed in celebration of the Coming of Age Day.

MSCI's broad index of shares in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, stood 0.09 percent higher.

The yen trader against dollar at 113.11, while the Australian dollar was mostly steady at $0.7859.

Asian markets notched multi-year highs during the first trading week of the year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index reached its highest level in 10 years and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged to levels not seen in 26 years in the previous trading day.