SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose in Monday morning trade as investors continue to monitor the Covid situation regionally.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.78% in early trade while the Topix index jumped 1.71%. South Korea’s Kospi also advanced 0.79%.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia edged 0.36% higher.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.31% higher.

In economic news, China’s central bank announced Friday a 50 basis points cut in its reserve requirement ratio for all banks, effective from July.

The move was intended to demonstrate that the country has “a variety of policy tools to conduct monetary policy,” ANZ Research’s Raymond Yeung and Zhaopeng Xing wrote in a Friday note.

The RRR cut was “almost equivalent to a broad-based easing,” Yeung and Xing said, as it is set to release about 1 trillion Chinese yuan ($154 billion) in funds.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.154 after a recent slide from above 92.4.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.21 per dollar, weaker than levels seen below 110 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7488, still below levels above $0.755 seen last week.