Australia, Korea open stronger, Tokyo closed

SYDNEY, Australia -- The Australian stock market rallied in early trade on Monday, supported by a rise on Wall Street and strong gains in resources issues.

Korea was also stronger, while elsewhere in the region, the Tokyo and Hong Kong markets are closed Monday for public holidays.

In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASXSX 200 index rose 23.4 points or 0.7 percent to 3,317.3 in early trade.

In Seoul, the Korea composite index was also stronger on Monday morning, up 16.68 points at 573.31.

Korean tech stocks such as SK Telecom, Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor all opened firmer.

Australian energy and mining giant BHP, which represents about 5.5 percent of the index, rallied 47 cents or 2.3 percent to A$21.24, recouping some of Friday's 4.7 percent slump. Banks recorded modest gains, but telecom issues lagged the wider market.

Stronger than expected U.S. economic growth data released on Friday bolstered hopes the world's largest economy would escape recession.

That pushed the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.1 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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