Asian shares fall as data shows continued growth struggle, Greece eyed

Investing.com - Asian shares fell on Monday, taking cues from the U.S. last week as well as data sets the pointed to economies in the region still struggling to re-ignite growth and attention switches to Europe and more talks with Greece.

The Shanghai Composite was down 1% at the break while the Nikkei 225 was off 0.63%.

Japan's adjusted current account surplus came in at ¥1.06 trillion, narrower than a surplus of ¥1.6 trillion expected, while GDP rose 0.4% for the quarter at a revised pace lower than the 0.6% quarter on quarter expected for an annual pace of 1.5%, well below the 2.2% increase seen.

On Sunday, China reported a trade surplus of $60.6 billion in the January-February period, compared to expectations for a surplus of $10.8 billion and up from a surplus of $60.0 in January.

Exports surged 48.3% from a year earlier last month, above expectations for a 14.2% increase, while imports tumbled 20.5%, much worse than forecasts for a decline of 10.0%.

Last week, U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after stronger than expected data from the monthly jobs report heightened concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 278.94 or 1.54% to 17,856.78, marking its biggest daily decline since Jan. 5 when it declined by more than 330 points.

All 10 sectors on the S&P 500 Composite Index ended lower on the day, as the S&P 500 lost 29.78 to close at 2,071.26.

The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, posted a weekly loss for the first time in five weeks, as it dropped 1.11% or 55.44 to 4,927.37. Earlier in the week, the NASDAQ cleared the 5,000 level for the first time since 2000.

The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs in February, far more than the 240,000 forecast by economists. The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.5% from 5.7% in January, the lowest since May 2008. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate would fall to 5.6%.

In the week ahead, markets will be watching talks on Greece by euro zone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday, while Thursday’s U.S. retail sales report will also be closely watched for further indications on the strength of the recovery.

On Monday, Eurogroup finance ministers are to hold a meeting in Brussels to discuss funding options for Greece.

Elsewhere in Europe, Switzerland is to release data on retail sales.