Asia markets continued down on Monday, but a strong yen continued to weigh Japan's with the Nikkei 225 retracing losses of over 1.3 percent to trade down 0.75 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan erased earlier losses and edged up about 0.1 percent.
The Korean Kospi was down 0.16 percent and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong reversed losses to trade up 0.53 percent. Australia's ASX 200 traded flat.
Chinese markets remained positive, with the Shanghai composite adding 1.94 percent and the Shenzhen composite up 2.22 percent. Data out on Monday showed China's consumer price inflation was less than expected in March, while wholesale prices declined less than anticipated, an indication that deflationary pressure in the industrial sector may be easing.
Dollar/Yen at 107.86
The Japanese yen broke the 108 handle, with the dollar/yen trading at 107.86 Monday afternoon, compared with Friday's close at 108.03.
According to Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, the decline in the dollar/yen pair "may be blamed on dollar weakness rather than yen strength as Fed's reticence to tighten policy has driven U.S. yields lower, compressing much of the gap between the two currencies….For dollar/yen to see any sustained support, U.S. yields would need to stabilize and begin to rise again and Bank of Japan (BOJ) may be waiting…for the Fed to act."
On Friday, the index finished at 94.23. Wall Street ended with modest gains on Friday even as the S&P 500 still suffered its biggest weekly decline in two months. Currency wise, the dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies, was at 94.08 as of 1:04 p.m. HK/SIN time.