No Tokyo trading today because of a holiday but in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 24.25 points at 14,872.04.
Oil prices rose in Asia after falling sharply in the US. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was at $61.99 a barrel, up 15 cents from its close of $61.84 in NY last Friday.
Early broker calls:
GLOBAL OIL SECTOR DOWNGRADED TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT LEHMAN
CADBURY SCHWEPPES ADDED TO MERRILL LYNCH EUROPEAN ONE LIST