06:57 AM EDT, 04/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets mostly gained on Monday following strong gains Friday on Wall Street, after an employment bulletin from Washington showed solid US job growth in March.

Hong Kong and Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges. Shanghai slipped, and Bangkok was closed on holiday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher on Wall Street cues and held ground, finishing up 0.9% on strength in tech issues and as a softer yen firmed export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 354.96 to 39.347.04, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 188 to 35.

Leading the upside was chip-maker Socionext, up 7.2%, while electronics-house Sharp lost 3.2%.

In economic news, Japan's Economy Watchers Survey, which polls frontline workers in service industries like taxis, restaurants, and hotels, fell to a seasonally adjusted 49.8 in March from 51.3 in February, slipping below the 50-marker that separates optimism from pessimism, reported the Cabinet Office.

In other news, real wages in Japan fell 1.3% in February on year, declining for the 23rd-straight month on year, reported the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Wage growth has lagged behind inflation, said officials.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower, wavered, but finished marginally higher, as traders weighed weekend comments by US Treasury Secretary that China has too much industrial production capacity.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 8.93 to 16,732.85, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 47 to 32. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.2% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index also fell 0.2%.

Leading the upside was Wuxi Biologics, up 5.4%, while Budweiser Brewing APAC fell 5.7%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% to 3,047.05 after a four-day hiatus.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.1%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.4%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.7%.

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