* Australian shares hit eight-month high; U.S. futures jump
* Currencies, commodities steady as equities rise
* China data due at 0200 GMT
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Tom Westbrook
SYDNEY, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Asia's stock markets opened
higher on Monday, as vaccine optimism offset worries about
rising coronavirus cases in Europe and new lockdowns in the
United States, while oil prices and risk-exposed currencies also
edged higher.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 opened 1% higher at 29-year peak.
Australia's ASX 200 .AXJO rose 1% to an eight-month high and
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS stood at its highest since January 2018.
S&P 500 futures ESc1 rose 0.7% following the index's
record closing high on Friday and futures pointed to positive a
positive start to the week in Hong Kong HSIc1 .
The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, was marginally lower against the
Antipodean currencies. Oil prices crept higher, though not
enough to recoup late-week losses on worries about the winter
ahead.
Traders are expecting more good vaccine news as soon as this
week from drugmaker Moderna MRNA.O , following the successful
trial of Pfizer's PFE.N similar drug - and that seems enough
to assuage nearer-term concerns about the virus' economic harm.
"There's just mountains of cash sitting on the sidelines,
waiting to be put to work and since we've got this vaccine news,
as well as diminished risk around the U.S. elections, all of
this is flying into equities," said Kyle Rodda, analyst at IG
Markets. "Everyone's thinking now that it's the cue to get in."
President Donald Trump appeared on Sunday to acknowledge
losing the U.S. election but then backtracked and said he
concedes "nothing," while President-elect Joe Biden focused on
tackling the coronavirus pandemic. In North Asia, Japan's quarterly economic growth beat
expectations while China's factory output and retail trade data
is due later in the day. L4N2HY2LT
Fifteen Asia-Pacific economies, including China and Japan
but excluding the United States agreed to a trade deal over the
weekend which, although light on detail or immediate tariff
cuts, is a landmark pact for East Asian exporters. "(The) agreement ... signals that Asia keeps pushing ahead
with trade liberalisation even as other regions have become more
sceptical," said HSBC economists Frederic Neumann and Shanella
Rajanayagam in a note.
"As such, it may reinforce a trend that's been already
underway for decades: that the global centre of economic gravity
keeps pushing relentlessly to the East."
BREXIT CRUNCH LOOMS, AGAIN
In currency markets, majors were mostly flat apart from
sterling, which made a nervous start to a week that looms large
for Brexit trade talks, slipping a tad against the euro
EURGBP= and the dollar GBP= to last hold at $1.3180. FRX/
The departure of hardline adviser Dominic Cummings from
Downing Street last week may leave more room for British
compromises, but chief negotiator David Frost said on Twitter
that talks "may not succeed". Negotiations have already missed several deadlines and the
next one looms with Thursday's European Union summit.
The euro EUR= brushed a one-week high of $1.1845 in early
Asia trade and the yen JPY= sat at 104.66 per dollar.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 bought $0.7284
and was steady ahead of a week of central bank speeches and
significant data, beginning with Reserve Bank of Australia
Governor Philip Lowe at 0840 GMT.
A slew of U.S. Federal Reserve speakers are also up this
week, beginning with Vice Chair Richard Clarida at 1900 GMT.
Bonds, which had sold off strongly on vaccine news last
week, pared some losses into Friday's New York close to leave
the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year debt US10YT=RR at 0.8930%,
from a week high above 0.97%. US/
Oil prices inched higher, with Brent crude futures LCOc1
up 0.4% to $42.94 a barrel but below last week's two-month high
of $45.30. U.S. crude CLc1 rose 0.6% to $40.37 a barrel. O/R
Gold XAU= held steady at $1,890 an ounce. GOL/