Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker with Shanghai edging up a bit after the break as investors held fire with U.S. markets closed for the day.
The Nikkei 225 fell 1.34%, while the S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.86%.
In China, the onshore yuan rose Monday following a stronger fixing from the People's Bank of China.
It last traded 0.13% stronger against the U.S. dollar at 6.5790 compared with Friday's official close of 6.5873. The PBOC set the yuan fixing at 6.5590 compared with Friday's 6.5637.
The PBOC will introduce a reserve-requirement ratio for some banks in the offshore yuan market. It is expected to tighten additional liquidity. However, the move won't affect domestic liquidity, the PBOC said.
Shares edged up 0.08% on the Shanghai Composite. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was last down 1.52%.
U.S. markets will be closed for Martin Luther King Day.
In the week ahead, investors will continue to focus on economic reports out of China, with Tuesday’s closely-watched fourth quarter GDP report in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, market players will keep an eye on upcoming U.S. data on inflation, building permits and housing starts to gauge if the world's largest economy is strong enough to withstand further rate hikes in 2016.
Last week, U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday extending its worst start to a year on record, as the major indices were besieged by further declines in oil, continued signals of weakening growth in China and a fresh batch of soft economic data which exacerbated fears of a potential recession.
At one point, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 537 points to a five-month low, while the NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 Composite index each dropped to their lowest levels since October, 2014 on a jittery day for investors. In spite of a late rally, the Dow still closed at 15,988.08, down 390.97 or 2.39%, while the NASDAQ lost 126.58 or 2.74% to 4,488.42, as biotech and semiconductor stocks weighed.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell by 41.55 or 2.16% to 1,880.29, as stocks in all 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Technology, Energy and Basic Materials industries lagged, each falling by more than 2.25% on the session. The NASDAQ has tumbled by roughly 10% on the new year, while the Dow and S&P have each fallen by approximately 8% respectively.