· European stocks were slightly lower on Monday morning, as market participants monitored another flurry of corporate earnings results.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 edged 0.1 percent lower during early morning deals, with most sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
· Asia stocks hovered near four-month highs on Monday after a mixed performance on Wall Street at the close of last week, while the dollar firmed against the yen following strong U.S. employment and manufacturing data.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a shade weaker. It had scaled a four-month peak on Friday amid a surge by its global peers.
Trade was subdued with many of the region’s markets closed for the Lunar New Year. China’s financial markets are closed all week, while those in South Korea are shut until Thursday.
· Japan’s Nikkei ended higher on Monday as financial stocks rose on the back of solid economic data in the United States, but Toyko’s gains were capped by poor earnings from Sony and Honda Motor.
The Nikkei share average rose 0.5 percent to close at 20,883.77.
Investors had expected a recovery “but right now they are bracing for the full-year results because it would be difficult to see a turnaround in the January-March quarter,” said Nobuhiko Kuramochi, a strategist at Mizuho Securities.
As of Friday, 503 of 1,308 Topix companies, excluding financial firms with a year-end in March, had reported their quarterly earnings. Net profits on average have dropped 18 percent from a year earlier, according to Mizuho Securities.
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