Asian shares edged higher on Monday, with investors wary of a deepening crisis in Ukraine and a downbeat China manufacturing survey; the euro touched a fresh one-year low ahead of this week's European Central Bank meeting.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned of an imminent a "full-scale war" if Russian troops continued to advance in support of pro-Moscow rebels, while U.S. and European leaders threatened Moscow with further sanctions.
Friday's Wall Street cheer managed to offset the geopolitical concerns, however. U.S. shares climbed ahead of a three-day weekend for Monday's U.S. Labor Day holiday.
Financial spread betters predicted flat openings in European markets, with Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE expected to open between 4 points higher and 7 points lower, and both Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI seen opening unchanged to 1 point higher.
Asia
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shrugged off early losses and was up about 0.3 percent, moving back toward last Thursday's six-and-a-half-year peak.
Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 ended up about 0.3 percent, taking back some of the ground lost in August, when it shed 1.3 percent.
An official index of China's manufacturing sector fell from a 27-month high to 51.1 in August, a government study showed on Monday, slightly less than forecast and adding to signs of growing softness in the Chinese economy. Still, it was the second-highest reading this year.
The final HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index also dropped, slipping to 50.2 in August, roughly in line with a preliminary reading of 50.3 and only a shade above the 50-point mark that demarcates an expansion in activity from contraction.