CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stocks were trading mixed on Monday, with energy stocks succumbing to heavy selling pressure after oil posted its biggest drop in a year.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures hovered at $66.31 a barrel in Asian trading, down over 2 percent from the previous session after plummeting by $2.83 to $67.88 a barrel on Friday following reports that the world's three top crude producers, Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia are considering easing production limits.
Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms in April rose at their fastest pace in six months, official data showed on Sunday, helping limit overall losses across the region.
Besides the special focus on oil prices, investors also kept an eye on the political situation in Spain and looked ahead to a U.S.-North Korea summit next month.
Japan's Nikkei index was little changed with a negative bias even as falling oil prices helped to push airline stocks higher. ANA Holdings climbed over 2 percent while Inpex Corp slumped 3.6 percent and Japan Petroleum lost 4.2 percent.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down about half a percent to fall below 6,000 points. Wholesaler and distributor Metcash plummeted more than 15 percent after flagging a potential $270 million sales hit.
China's Shanghai Composite index was rising 0.2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.6 percent and South Korea's Kospi was gaining 0.7 percent. New Zealand shares were little changed with a positive bias.
U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed on Friday as geopolitical concerns as well as downbeat reports on durable goods orders and consumer sentiment served to keep investors on the sidelines ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend.
In Europe, markets gave up initial gains to end mixed on Friday after North Korea responded with measured tones to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to call off a historic summit and Spain's biggest opposition party, the Socialists, tabled the non-confidence motion in the country's parliament.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index inched up 0.1 percent. The German DAX rose 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent while France's CAC 40 index eased 0.1 percent.
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