S&P ASX 200 up 0.46%, KOSPI Composite up 1.14% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Seoul, 12 Aug - Asian shares closed mostly higher, extending Friday's rebound on growing hopes that concerns over a US recession were overblown.

Trading volumes were low as the markets were closed in Tokyo for the Mountain Day public holiday.

Chinese markets underperformed their regional peers on lingering growth concerns following a string of weak economic data for July.

Investors awaited US consumer price index data due on Wednesday for more cues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path. The reading is expected to show inflation cooled slightly in July.

Chinese industrial production and retail sales data and a string of key June quarter earnings from the region's biggest economy are also on tap this week.

Investors also assessed inflation and industrial output data from India due today.

Asian stock markets dipped last Monday as Japanese stocks sank on a hawkish Fed and growing fears of a US economic slowdown weighed on global sentiment after weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls data from the world's biggest economy.

Today in Sydney the S&P ASX 200 closed up 0.46% at 7,813 points , while in Seoul the KOSPI closed up 1.24% at 2,588 points.

The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.23% at 2,855 points and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.08% at 17,076 points. In Mumbai the Sensex index rose 0.26% to 79,921 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 12-08-24 08:51:52 (0121) 5 NNNN