HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Monday with exporters such as Sony Corp boosted by strong U.S. retail sales data, while gains in resource shares helped drive the Australian market to a record high.

Data last Friday showed retail sales in Asia's top export market rose solidly in September, while inflation pressures were largely muted, easing recession fears for the world's biggest economy.

The upbeat report also underpinned base metals prices, while mounting tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq further drove U.S. crude (CLc1: Quote, Profile, Research) above $84 a barrel to a record high on Friday. Oil was at $83.64 in early Asian session.

"It looks likely that we'll see gains thanks to gains in U.S. markets and recent stronger-than-expected U.S. economic reports. But the markets have risen quite a bit already and valuations are beginning to look high," said Kim Hak-kyun, an analyst at Korea investment and Securities.

At 0030 GMT, Tokyo's Nikkei average had climbed 0.5 percent, recovering from Friday's 0.7 percent fall, while MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan added 0.4 percent to be within easy reach of a life high set last Thursday.

Last week, the MSCI index advanced 2.7 percent, posting its eighth straight weekly gain. It had set four record-closing highs in the last five sessions.

Major Japanese exporters were further lifted by a stronger dollar, which rose on the back of the retail sales figures. Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 0.5 percent, Sony (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) added 0.7 percent and chip-tester maker Advantest Corp (6857.T: Quote, Profile, Research) put on 5.3 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO: Quote, Profile, Research) advanced 0.7 percent to a fresh peak, led by gains in resource shares such as BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research).

Also in favour, South Korea's KOSPI (.KS11: Quote, Profile, Research) climbed 0.8 percent, thanks to gains of 0.8 percent for top lender Kookmin Bank (060000.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) and 4.6 percent for Doosan Heavy Industries (034020.KS: Quote, Profile, Research). Samsung Electronics (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 0.4 percent.

But companies exposed to China such as steel maker POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) slipped 2.1 percent after Beijing took further steps over the weekend to cool its booming economy.

On Saturday, China's central bank raised the proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve for the eighth time this year.

Last Friday, U.S. stocks advanced following the strong retail sales report, a brighter outlook from McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and a takeover bid in the software sector.

The Dow gained 0.6 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2 percent.