Asian equities opened with a bang this morning (the Nikkei closed +1.39% higher, the Shanghai Composite up 1.41%) as a stronger close to US equity markets on Friday kept sentiments in a rather buoyant mood for the start of this trading week. Friday's rally started with the release of a bullish German IFO number (106.8 act v 106.4 exp/106.7 prev) and continued with a far better US durable goods orders ex transport (2.0% act v 1.0% exp/-2.8% prev) which saw US equities close on a strong note, with the Dow up more than 197 points, higher by 1.86% on the day.