Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker with greater China edging up on Monday following a missile test by North Korea that weighed on regional risk sentiment.
North Korea fired multiple missiles off its east coast, which flew about 1,000 km (620 miles), South Korea's military said, while Japan said three missiles landed inside its exclusive economic zone and that it would not tolerate the hermit state's provocative actions.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.46%, while the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.24% as Australia reported retail sales for January with a 0.4% gain as seen month-on-month.
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.37% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.37%.
At the weekend, Premier Li Keqiang sounded a cautious note at the annual meeting of parliament that began Sunday, and said that China would expand its economy by around 6.5 percent, compared to the growth target of 6.5 to 7 percent set last year.
Other notable targets from Li's speech include China aiming for an annual consumer price index (CPI) of around 3 percent, and an annual budget deficit of 3 percent of gross domestic product, and 2017 M2 growth of about 12 percent.
The annual National People's Congress (NPC) will also kick off today and last until March 15.
Last week, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Technology sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.16%.
U.S. equities started the session in negativity territory, as a mixed bag of economic data failed to have a major impact on market moves while Janet Yellen’s speech provided the impetus for a late recovery as all three major U.S. indexes ended the week in the positive.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday, she expected a gradual increase in interest rates this year and hinted that should U.S. economic data come in as expected, then further monetary tightening "would likely be appropriate" at the Fed's next policy meeting on 14-15 March.
“At our meeting later this month, the committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate,” Yellen said.
Yellen struck a similar tone to that of several Fed officials over the past few days, who indicated that tighter monetary policy may be coming soon, should the U.S. economy continue to show robust growth.
On the economic data front, services PMI missed expectations while the ISM non-manufacturing index revealed a 57.6 reading for February. Economists expected a services PMI print of 53.9.