SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose in Monday morning trade, as investors await the release of China’s GDP data.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.94% in early trade while the Topix index added 0.94%.

Japan’s exports fell 4.9% as compared to a year earlier in September, according to trade statistics released by the country’s Ministry of Finance on Monday.

South Korea’s Kospi also advanced 0.65%.

Meanwhile, shares in Australia edged higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up about 0.7%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.26% higher.

Investor focus on Monday will be on China’s GDP print for the third quarter, as well as industrial production and retail sales data for September.

“We expect the data dump will highlight China’s economic recovery is well underway,” strategists at Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a note.

“Unlike many other economies, China’s economic recovery has been strong.  Infection rates have remained low and policymakers have been able to focus on rebooting the economy, rather than health outcomes.,” the strategists said.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 93.704 after touching levels around 93.9 in recent days.

The Japanese yen traded at 105.42 per dollar after seeing levels below 105.3 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7104 following its decline last week from levels above $0.715.

Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up fractionally to $42.97 per barrel. U.S. crude futures rose 0.1% to $40.92 per barrel.

What’s on tap:

• China: Third quarter GDP, industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment data for September at 10:00 a.m. HK/SIN