Asia shares trend higher; Japan data offsets Wall St losses

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Monday, shrugging off a weak close last week on Wall Street as hopes for a new round of aid for American workers and businesses faded.

Benchmarks rose in Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined. U.S. futures were higher.

The quarterly “tankan” survey by the Bank of Japan, released Monday, showed business sentiment has improved sharply with expectations for a recovery from a year-long recession.

The main measure of business conditions of large manufacturers rose to minus 10 from minus 27. It was a marked improvement from the past several quarterly reports as Japan battled the coronavirus pandemic.

The tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those responding they are positive.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% to 26,732.44. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.5% to 26,377.37. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.7% to 3,369.12 and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.3% to 2,762.20. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% to 6,660.20.

U.S. markets ended last week on a downbeat note. Benchmarks pulled further away from their recent highs Friday as prospects for another aid package from Washington faded, while a surge in virus cases is threatening to inflict more damage on an already battered economy.

The proposed $900 billion aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers has essentially collapsed because of continued partisan bickering. But there were reports that talks may continue on Monday after President Donald Trump signed a temporary government-wide funding bill into law, averting a federal shutdown at midnight and buying Congress time for the on-again, off-again negotiations on COVID-19 aid.

“Given these talks have been running...