Asian shares climbed to a two-week high on Monday, and the Australian dollar and copper gained, as China said its manufacturing expanded in August at the fastest pace in more than a year.
A delay in potential U.S. military action against Syria, as U.S. President Barack Obama sought Congressional support, also helped boost short-term risk appetite.
China's bullish purchasing managers' index added to recent positive data from the U.S. and Europe, raising hopes the global economy was on a firmer footing.
European shares were expected to open firmer, with Britain's FTSE 100 seen up as much as 0.7% and Germany's DAX up as much as 0.9%, according to financial spreadbetters.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 1%, hitting a two-week high and extending a 2.1% rise in the previous two sessions, and Tokyo's Nikkei gained 1.4% in light trade. U.S. markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.8% and China's CSI300 index was up 0.5%.
China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to the highest level since last April and topped market expectations.
A separate manufacturing PMI report from HSBC, released on Monday, showed activity in privately owned factories increased over August for the first time in four months.
But India's manufacturing PMI, also from HSBC, shrank in August for the first time in more than four years, adding to the country's deepening economic malaise as the central bank struggles to defend the battered rupee currency.
The Indian rupee edged down 0.3% to 65.90 to the dollar after two days of gains, and was not far from a record low of 68.80 per dollar hit last week.
Indonesia's rupiah, which has also been under pressure lately, was down 0.2% after the country logged a wider-than-expected trade deficit.
The yen had risen recently on heightened geopolitical tensions and as investors dumped emerging market currencies to position themselves for the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin reducing stimulus, perhaps from its meeting later this month.
On Monday, the yen slipped 0.5% to 98.62 yen to the dollar, pulling well away from last week's low of 96.81, and eased 0.3% to 130.21 to the euro.
The Australian dollar, which is seen as a proxy for Chinese growth because of the two countries' close trade ties, rose 0.7% to $0.8966.
Against a basket of major currencies, the U.S. dollar held steady at a four-week high.
Buoyed by the factory activity data from top-consumer China, copper prices rose 2.2% and were on track to end a four-day losing run.
Oil and gold prices fell as investors unwound their positions after the U.S. postponed a military strike against the Syrian government, which is accused of using chemical weapons against civilians.
Brent crude prices dropped 1.1% to below $113 a barrel, on track for a third day of declines. They touched a six-month peak of $117.34 last week on concerns that U.S. military intervention could lead to retaliation and disrupt crude supply in the Middle East region, which pumps a third of the world's oil.
Safe-haven gold dipped 0.3% to around $1,391 an ounce after falling as low as $1,379.44, a one-week trough, earlier in the session.
