Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Monday as investors turned cautious after deadly attacks in London at the weekend and the potential impact on parliamentary elections scheduled for June 8.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 erased early losses to trade 0.05% higher as shares of Japanese automakers were mostly lower on the strength of the yen, with Toyota falling 1.81%. The company had announced over the weekend it had sold its shares in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) after the end of a partnership to develop electric cars.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index rose dipped 0.19% andd Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 0.74%.
Markets in China were mixed despite the positive read from the May Caixin services PMI, with the Hang Seng Index down 0.18%. The Shanghai Composite was off by 0.43% and the Shenzhen Composite added 0.59%t.
The Caixin services PMI came in at 52.8, compared to the 51.5 figure seen last month. This month's services PMI reflected that growth in the sector grew the quickest in four months.
New Zealand markets are closed for a holiday.
Last week, U.S. stocks closed at record highs on Friday, shrugging off a jobs report that failed to match expectations while energy stocks came under pressure as oil prices fell more than 1%.
The U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs in May, well below forecasts of 185,000 new jobs while the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low of 4.3%, the Labor Department said on Friday.
The dip in the pace of U.S. job creation failed to deter traders’ expectations that the Federal would hike its benchmark rate in June – according to investing.com’s fed rate monitor tool nearly 90% of traders expect a rate hike in June compared to about 75% of traders in the previous week.
“We know the Fed is more than happy to look through this kind of thing,” Saxo Bank head FX Strategy John Hardy said on Friday.
In other news, crude futures extended losses on Friday, as fears that the U.S could ramp-up production weighed on oil prices amid President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched 62 points to close at 21,206.29. The S&P 500 closed 0.35% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6305.80, up 0.94%.