Asian shares steady after slump, oil jumps on Saudi comments

Asian shares steadied on Monday as investors caught their breath following another week of escalating US-China trade tensions, with sentiment turning brighter after the United States said it would lift tariffs in North America.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.6 percent, reflecting modest gains in markets across the region after the broad index finished at its lowest since Jan. 24 on Friday, down 3 percent for the week.

Rising tensions in the Middle East, which have supported oil prices, ratcheted up another notch on the weekend as US President Donald Trump issued new threats, tweeting that a conflict with Iran would be the "official end" of that country.

But it was comments from Saudi Arabia's energy minister that had the most immediate effect on crude prices on Monday.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said that there was consensus among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production cuts to "gently" reduce inventories.

Both US crude and Brent crude jumped more than 1.4 percent following the minister's comments, with West Texas Intermediate fetching $63.66 a barrel and Brent crude at $73.27 per barrel.

In currency markets, China's offshore yuan rebounded after touching its weakest against the dollar since November on Friday. It was last trading at 6.9351 per dollar.

The dollar added 0.12 percent against the yen to 110.20, while the euro was barely changed at $1.1155. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was up a hair's breadth at 98.018.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 2.4015 percent compared with a US close of 2.393 percent on Friday, while the two-year yield touched 2.2146 percent, up from Friday's US close of 2.202 percent.

Gold trimmed earlier gains on the modest revival in risk appetite, easing to $1,276.91 per ounce.