Shares of energy stocks rose sharply Monday as oil prices held their ground firmly above $45 per barrel.
Shares of global resources company BHP Billiton rose 5.3% and oil and gas company Santos climbed 3% in Sydney, while Inpex Corp.'s stock was up 3.7% and Nippon Oil Corp. shares rose 2.5% in Tokyo. CNOOC tacked on 3% in Hong Kong.
Strength in the energy stocks tracked the climb in crude-oil prices. April crude climbed as high as $46.76 per barrel in electronic trading on Globex. They were recently up 84 cents at $46.36 a barrel.
"With oil prices able to stage a strong rally on Friday despite the dismal 651,000 [U.S.] jobs loss report, I think there is a greater feeling now that a bottom for oil prices has been put in," said Robert "Tony" Nunan, an assistant general manager at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo.
"And with the March 15th OPEC meeting around the corner, there may be more bullish news if Saudi delivers another cut," he said.
Crude prices finished Friday with a gain of 4.4% on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as weakness in the U.S. dollar and expectations for further production cuts by oil producers prompted prices to close at $45.52 per barrel.
Those factors offset data released Friday in the U.S. showing that the nation's economy lost 651,000 jobs in February, the fourth month in a row where job losses were near or above 600,000. For the week, the benchmark crude contract rose 1.7%. In Tokyo, shares of some commodity trading houses, such as Mitsubishi Corp. were also heading higher.
Taking a look at broader trading in the region, China's Shanghai Composite climbed 0.5% to 2,203.78, Japan's Nikkei 225 Average lost 0.8% to 7,115.19 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 1.1% to 11,790.47. South Korea's Kospi added 0.4% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.1%.
