UPDATE: Asian Shares Mostly Higher; AXA Asia Pacific Surges

SINGAPORE -- Asian shares traded mostly higher Monday after modest gains on Wall Street Friday. In Australia, AXA Asia Pacific surged after spurning a multibillion dollar takeover offer from rival wealth management firm AMP.

Japan's Nikkei 225 traded up 0.4%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.7% and South Korea's Kospi Composite gained 0.8%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tacked on 1.1%, and the mainland's Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% in choppy trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures contract was 30 points higher in screen trade.

Despite the gains, some traders were cautious. "There's no clear picture yet (on whether we are seeing real economic recovery), so investors are reluctant to take new positions at this level," said OCBC head of research Carmen Lee in Singapore.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 0.2% rise Friday despite key U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for October showing the unemployment rate rose more than expected, topping 10% for the first time in 26 years.

RBS director David Iron in Sydney said that despite the U.S. jobs report, the trend of economic data pointed to improving economic conditions and earnings, helping bouy Australia's market.

"The market's taken heart from a deep cyclical like Orica reporting well above expectations and an economic bellwether like CBA having a very robust outlook," he said. "Plus, the much touted next wave of mergers and acquisitions is coming to fruition, with bids for Transurban and AXA."

AXA Asia Pacific Holdings jumped 30.5% after the company rejected an A$11.04 billion cash and equity takeover proposal from AMP, despite the deal having the backing of its French parent, AXA SA.

Under the offer, AMP would buy all the shares in AXA APH, including the 53.9% held by AXA SA, while the French firm would buy AXA APH's Asian operations.

But AXA rejected the offer as inadequate, saying the bid was made "against the backdrop of recent weakness in global financial markets and before the growth of our Asian operations is fully reflected in our profitability." AMP shares were down 1.5%.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 4.0% after it reported unaudited first quarter cash profit of A$1.4 billion. Orica, the world's largest explosives maker, added 6.3% after posting a modest rise in fiscal year earnings and providing a positive outlook for the current year.

Japan's market was curbed by concerns about a higher yen, which can eat into returns for exporter-related companies. Toyota Motor was down 0.6%, Nissan Motor shed 2.4% and Canon fell 0.9%.

Offsetting exporters' declines, Japanese insurance plays surged after two companies boosted their earnings outlooks Friday. Tokio Marine Holdings added 4.3% and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance jumped 8.1%.

In Korea, Ssangyong Motor fell by its daily limit of 15% after a Seoul-based court on Friday said it would hold a new hearing on Dec. 11 to decide the fate of the debt-ridden firm, as creditors failed to agree on a rescue plan.

In other markets, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, Malaysia's KLCI gained 0.2%, Taiwan's Taiex added 0.8%, and New Zealand's NZX-50 was flat. Indonesian shares shed 0.3%, while Philippine stocks lost 0.8%.

In the foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar traded mostly lower against Asian currencies, with traders saying the U.S. jobs data reinforced the greenback's downside bias. "There's no way the Fed can hike its policy rates for now. In the end, it's a dollar-sell trend," said Nomura Securities senior dealer Hiroshi Maeba in Tokyo.

The euro was pushing higher against both the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen, at $1.4904 from $1.4844 late in New York, and at Y134.40, versus Y133.53. Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was at Y90.13, from Y89.96.

The New Zealand dollar got a boost from dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group increasing its forecast payout to its 10,500 farmer shareholders by 18.6% for the current season. The higher payout is set to pump billions of dollars into the New Zealand economy, which managed to just climb out of a five-quarter long recession in the second quarter.

The New Zealand dollar jumped on the news, rising to US$0.7351 from US$0.7250 at the end of last week.

Buyers were back for the Australian dollar, which rose to US$0.9252, its highest level since Oct. 26, after data showed the number of housing-finance approvals in Australia rose a seasonally adjusted 5.1% in September from August, more than the 3.0% expected in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists.

The weaker U.S. dollar is suspected of sparking intervention by the Thai central bank, while the Korean won's gains against the dollar were contained on caution the Bank of Korea might take action to limit the rise.

Lead Japanese government bond futures were lower, with the contract down 0.09 at 137.47 points, amid ongoing concerns about the potential for fresh supply. The yield on the 10-year bond rose 1.0 basis point to 1.455%.

Crude oil was higher with Nymex December crude up 90 cents at $78.33 per barrel on Globex. Spot gold was at $1,100.20 a troy ounce, up $3.30 from the New York close.

Among base metals, three-month London Metals Exchange copper futures contract traded at $6,570 a metric ton, up $80 from the London kerb, while LME three-month aluminum traded at $1,926, up $16.