Asia: Shanghai poised to jump after holiday reopening

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose for the third day in a row but are still some way short of their level before pro-democracy protests began in late September.

The student-led protesters and the region's government prepared the ground for formal negotiations on Monday, leading to a relaxation of road blocks in the central business district but demonstrations are expected to continue for some time yet.

Lau Kong-wah, the Hong Kong government's undersecretary of constitutional and mainland affairs, told reporters the meeting "was successful and progress has been made".

Protest leader Alex Chow said the Occupy Central demonstrations will continue until demands are met.

"It has to end when, and only when, the government promises something, otherwise it is impossible to persuade the people to quit," he said.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange remained closed for the extended Chinese holiday and is due to reopen on Wednesday.

Investors are positioning themselves for anticipated gains, reports said.

as China's economic expansion moderates and regional policymakers brace themselves for tighter global monetary conditions.

Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.67% as the Bank of Japan downgraded its expectations of industrial production but was generally optimistic.

Following the bank's two-day policy board meeting, governor Haruhiko Kuroda saying he expected "Japan's economy to continue a moderate recovery".

The bank said industrial production had recently been "showing some weakness, due in part to inventory adjustments", contrary to its September statement that production was continuing to "increase moderately as a trend".

The bank reiterated its intention to maintain inflation at 2% and to continue easing as long as necessary to realize the target in a stable manner.