SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia Pacific rose in Monday trade, with investors watching shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group following an announcement of its sale of U.K. chip designer Arm.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.16%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.63% in afternoon trade while the Topix index added 0.82%.

Mainland Chinese stocks were higher by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite up 0.56% while the Shenzhen component also added 0.748%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.67%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged about 0.5% higher. Shares of Macquarie Group, however, dropped more than 4% after the firm announced Monday it anticipated a 35% plunge in its first-half earnings.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gained 0.8%.

Meanwhile, developments in Japanese politics were also watched as the search for the successor for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is widely seen as the front-runner to succeed Abe, according to local media reports, as the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party chooses its new leader.  The vote will also effectively decide who becomes Japan’s next prime minister, according to NHK, after Abe announced his resignation in late August over health concerns.

The Japanese yen traded at 106.04 against the greenback, following an earlier low of 106.19 per dollar.

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.3% to $39.95 per barrel. U.S. crude futures added 0.56% to $37.54 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 93.204 after bouncing from levels around 92.7 last week.

The Australian dollar was at $0.7278 after rising from levels below $0.725 last week.