Asian shares climb on slower US tapering hopes

Markets across Asia started the week brightly as traders bet the withdrawal of Fed chair candidate Larry Summers' could slow the US' curtailment of quantitative easing.

Frontrunner Summers has quit the race, leaving Janet Yellen as the favourite. Summers was understood to be a fan of reducing support quickly, with Yellen tipped to be more accommodating to markets. As a result, markets in Asia rallied, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng closing up 1.25% and the Nikkei 225 up 0.1%. Other markets across Asia including Korea and Taiwan have also closed firmer. The news also weighed on the US dollar, and helped lift gold out of its current downward spiral. The precious metal, which dropped around 5% last week, rose 1.4% overnight to $1,326.