Investing.com - Shares across the Asia-Pacific region opened in a varied fashion on Monday, following a mixed session on Wall Street and a sell-off in Europe.
By 10:40 am AEST (12:40 am GMT), the S&P/ASX 200 was little changed, the KOSPI 200 eased 0.1% and Nikkei 225 fell by 1.9%.
In the US, stocks managed to maintain their positions on Friday, ending a week of considerable gains on a cautious note. The NASDAQ Composite rose 0.1% to a new high, ending the week with a 3.2% gain. The S&P 500 pulled back from its record, but still managed a weekly gain of 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell, losing 0.5% for the week.
Brent crude oil was down 0.2% to US$82.62 a barrel in commodity markets, while gold saw a 1.3% increase to US$2,333.04.
In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds fell to 3.90%, while the 10 Year yield also dropped to 4.12%. US Treasury notes had mixed results, with the 2 Year yield remaining at 4.70% and the 10 Year yield falling to 4.22%.
Chinese shares closed higher, driven by gains in property and hardware stocks, with investors awaiting an announcement from PBOC on the medium-term lending facility rate. However, Hong Kong shares ended lower, dragged down by losses in retail stocks amid risk-off sentiment spurred by macro uncertainty.
Japanese stocks closed higher, led by real estate and trading house stocks, after the Bank of Japan kept the amount of bond purchases unchanged. Meanwhile, Indian shares ended higher, supported by auto and finance stocks, as Prime Minister Modi's cabinet appointments appeared to have eased concerns among investors about a significant shift in policy under the new coalition government.
In Europe, stocks in the U.K. slipped on Friday, with the FTSE 100 Index falling 0.2% to 8,146.86. Shares across Europe also closed lower, with investors opting for safer government bonds amidst political turmoil in France that raised concerns about the European Union's cohesion.
The CAC 40 in Paris fell 6.2% this week, its worst since 2022, while the Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 2.4% on the week, marking its weakest performance since October.