Investing.com - Shares in Asia traded mostly weaker on Monday with markets in Japan shut for a holiday and investors watching oilfield-related shares after a bankruptcy filing by Singapore's Ezra Holdings at the weekend.
In Southeast Asia, Ezra Holdings filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, and said it had loans of $272 million owed to Singapore's DBS Group, and $184 million owed to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Shares of DBS Group and OCBC were down 0.41% and 0.31% respectively.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times index was down 0.4% and its oil and gas index fell 1.01%.
Also at the weekend, finance ministers from twenty of the world's biggest economies held a two-day meeting, and warned against competitive devaluations and disorderly FX markets but failed to agree on keeping global trade free and open.
"Germany Finance Minister Schauble bemoaned the omission for "resit all forms of protectionism" in the G-20 communique as U.S. Treasury Mnuchin preferred to 'reduce excessive global imbalances...promote greater inclusiveness and fairness,'" said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank, in a Monday note.
Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.36%, while the Shanghai composite traded flat to weaker and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.6%.
Last week, U.S. equities closed modestly lower on Friday, despite the release of mostly upbeat economic data, as manufacturing output and consumer sentiment data topped expectations while industrial production slowed in February.
U.S stocks traded in positive territory, albeit briefly, during the mid-afternoon session, but ultimately pulled back as the close approached, after Financials and healthcare stocks took a breather.
Meanwhile, upbeat economic data failed to lift sentiment. In a preliminary report, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose to 97.6 in March from 95.7 the previous month while manufacturing output rose for a sixth straight month.
Both consumer sentiment and manufacturing output topped expectations while U.S. industrial production was flat in February, compared to expectations for a 0.2% rise.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.10% lower at 20,914. The S&P 500 lost 0.13% and the Nasdaq Composite closed roughly flat at 5,901.