Asian stock markets are mostly in positive territory on Monday as the modest gains on Wall Street helped offset the impact of lower commodity prices and weak Japanese industrial output data.
The Australian market opened in negative territory, with lower commodity prices dragging down resource stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is down 83.30 points or 1.41 percent to 5,836.60, off a low of 5,833.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is losing 81.20 points or 1.38 percent to 5,807.70.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto (RIO) is losing 1.8 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 3 percent. BC Iron is down more than 1 percent and Atlas Iron is losing more than 5 percent after iron ore prices slid four percent on Friday.
Shares of mining company PanAust remained untraded after the company's major shareholder China-based Guangdong Rising Assets Management urged other PanAust shareholders to accept its heavily reduced takeover bid of A$1.71 per share.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Kingsgate Consolidated is down 0.7 percent after gold prices fell on Monday, snapping a seven-day rally.
In the oil space, Woodside Petroleum is losing almost 3 percent, Oil Search is down 3.6 percent and Santos is lower by almost 6 percent following the slide in crude oil prices.
Caltex Australia shares are down almost 10 percent after Chevron sold its 50 percent stake in the refiner for A$4.7 billion.
Origin Energy has been ordered by a federal court to pay A$2 million in fines for unlawful door-to-door sales tactics. Shares of the company are declining 3.8 percent.
In the banking sector, ANZ Banking, Westpac (WBK), Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are lower in a range of 0.6 percent to 1.3 percent.
Former Reserve Bank governon Ian Macfarlane will step down from the board of supermarket retailer Woolworths on Tuesday. The company's shares are down 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, shares of Novogen surged almost 16 percent after the drugmaker said its experimental anti-cancer drug Cantrixil killed cells that are usually highly resistant to cytotoxic drugs and which are believed to be responsible for diseases recurring after initial therapy.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar on Monday following the decline in iron ore prices. In early trades, the local unit is trading at US$0.7754, down from Friday's close of US$0.7801.
The Japanese market bounced back into positive territory, after opening lower on the back of weak Japanese manufacturing data and a stronger yen.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 49.83 points or 0.26 percent to 19,335.46, after touching a low of 19,227.29 in early trades.
Among the tech stocks, Advantest is down 1.5 percent, Toshiba is lower by 1 percent, Fanuc is edging down 0.2 percent and Hitachi is down almost 1 percent. Nintendo is losing 0.5 percent and Casio Computer is declining 0.6 percent.
Among the other major exporters, Sony is down 0.6 percent and Nikon Corp is losing 1.4 percent, while TDK Corp is adding 0.2 percent.
Panasonic's shares are down 0.7 percent. The Nikkei business daily reported that Panasonic Healthcare plans to acquire German drugmaker Bayer's blood-glucose meter unit for about 100 billion yen.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is declining 0.4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial (MFG) are losing 1.5 percent.
In the auto sector, Toyota (TM) is down 1.2 percent and Honda (HMC) is lower by 0.6 percent, while Nissan is adding 0.6 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kikkoman Corp. is gaining more than 5 percent, Japan Tobacco is up 2.6 percent and Astellas Pharma is adding 2.3 percent. Meanwhile, Kajima Corp. is down more than 4 percent, while JX Holdings and Komatsu are declining more than 3 percent each.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that industrial production in Japan was down 3.4 percent on month in February. That missed forecasts for a decline of 1.9 percent following the 3.7 percent increase in January.
On a yearly basis, industrial production slipped 2.6 percent - also shy of expectations for a decline of 0.6 percent following the 2.8 percent decline in the previous month. Upon the release of the data, the METI maintained its assessment of industrial production, saying that it shows signs of increase at a moderate pace.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 119-yen range on Monday, down slightly from the mid 119-yen range on Friday.
Among the other markets in Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong are up 1 percent each, while South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are higher with modest gains. Meanwhile, the New Zealand stock market is lower.
On Wall Street, stocks managed to end Friday on the upside due to some late-day buying interest. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said an interest rate hike may well be warranted later this year but stressed that any increase in interest rates would be gradual. The Fed Chief also suggested that further signs of weakness by inflation measures could impact the Fed's comfortably in raising rates.
The Dow rose 34.43 points or 0.2 percent to 17,712.66, the Nasdaq climbed 27.86 points or 0.6 percent to 4,891.22 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.87 points or 0.2 percent to 2,061.02.
The major European markets ended Friday mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.6 percent.
U.S. crude oil snapped a five-day gain to end sharply lower Friday, on speculation that concerns over the Yemen military operations may be overdone.
Crude oil futures for May delivery, the most actively traded contract, plunged $2.56 or 5.0 percent to settle at $48.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.
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