Shares in Asia advance, led by tech stocks, after another week of gains for Wall St

U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 43 cents to $61.41 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 46 cents to $65.23 per barrel.

Japan’s markets were closed for a holiday.

South Korea's Kospi jumped 2.8% to 4,221.87, yet another record close. Computer chip maker SK Hynix's shares soared 11%, helped by recent moves to team up with Nvidia in developing the country's artificial intelligence infrastructure and capabilities. Samsung Electronics, the country's biggest company, gained 3.4%.

Chinese markets were more subdued, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining 1.1% to 26,183.60.

Gains for technology shares were offset by declines for gold shops like Chow Tai Food Jewellery Group. Its stocks dropped 8.7% after the Chinese government reduced the amount of rebates for taxes on sales of the precious metal. The rebates have been one factor behind a frenzy of gold purchasing that has helped push its price to record levels recently.

However, Chinese buying is just one reason for the rally in gold prices. Many investors have been investing in gold as a hedge against uncertainties and that includes central banks. Early Monday, the price of gold rose nearly 0.8% to $4,028.00 per ounce. But that's well below its recent record levels of near $4,400 an ounce.

A private sector measure of factory activity, the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI, showed an overall slowing of manufacturing in China, to 50.6 in October from 51.2 in September. That's on a scale from zero to 100 where 50 marks a level of expansion.

The official PMI reading by the National Bureau of Statistics, released Friday, likewise showed factory activity slowing, to 49 last month from 49.8 in September.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5% to 3,973.10.

Taiwan's benchmark Taiex picked up 0.4%.

There was no immediate or obvious reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had promised not to take any action against the self-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, while Trump is in office.

The long-contentious issue of Taiwan did not come up in Trump's talks with Xi on Thursday in South Korea that largely focused on U.S.-China trade tensions, Trump said. But in an interview with CBS’ program 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, U.S. time, the U.S. leader expressed certainty that China would not take action on Taiwan while he’s in office.

The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% early Monday, while that for the S&P 500 gained 0.3%.

On Friday, Amazon led the U.S. stock market higher, gaining 9.6% after it reported a much bigger profit than analysts had expected. Amazon’s massive size of roughly $2.4 trillion means its stock movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 than almost any other company’s.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% and pulled closer to its all-time high set on Tuesday. It closed at 6,840.20, finishing a third straight winning week and a sixth straight winning month, its longest monthly winning streak since 2021.

The Dow industrials added 0.1% to 47,562.87. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.6% to 23,724.96.

Apple, delivered a better profit report than forecast. But it had less of an effect on the market and finished with a dip of 0.4%. Its CEO Tim Cook said it benefited from strong revenue for both its iPhone lineup and its services offerings, which include its app store.

Companies face pressure to deliver big growth in profits to justify the huge gains their stock prices have made since April and counter worries that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive.

Investors have also appeared skeptical that President Donald Trump’s trade truce with China would put an end to tensions between the two countries.

In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 154.20 Japanese yen from 153.05 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1538 from $1.1533.