HONG KONG: Asian bourses were mixed on Monday as the fillip provided by positive data out of the United States was tempered in Japan by worries over power supplies.
Better-than-anticipated jobs figures released by Washington on Friday, which helped Wall Street, gave an initial boost to the region, but analysts said eurozone debt worries were still hampering markets.
Officials from Greece and Germany were forced to issue a denial Friday that debt-riddled Athens might leave the single currency after a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel.
"Risk aversion remains slightly elevated, suggesting that an overall cautious tone will remain over coming days," Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.
Tokyo's Nikkei was down 0.21 percent by noon, Hong Kong rose 0.58 percent, Shanghai gained 0.69 percent, Sydney climbed 1.08 percent and Seoul was up 0.16 percent.
Investors in Japan were spooked by renewed worries over electricity shortages after Prime Minister Naoto Kan called for the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, located near an earthquake fault line southwest of Tokyo, to suspend its operations.
"Japan will need to reassess its nuclear power policy, which may impose tough options for electric power companies," said Masayoshi Yano, a senior market analyst at Meiwa Securities, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Hamaoka operator Chubu Electric Power was down 10.58 percent by lunch.
Tokyo had started the morning well, climbing in opening trade on the back of US market moves, but soon ran out of steam.
On Friday, buying on Wall Street was sparked by data showing a net 244,000 non-farm jobs were added to the US economy in April.
The private sector created a net 268,000 positions, with a strong surge in hiring in the services sector easily offsetting local and federal job losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 54.57 points (0.43 percent) to 12,638.74 on Friday.
Crude was higher in Asian trade Monday, clawing back some of the ground it lost in sharp sell-offs last week.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose $1.18 to $98.36 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery gained 52 cents to $109.65.
"Oil prices are heading up this morning, primarily reacting to the very sharp loss late last week, which was too much and too fast," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst from Purvin and Gertz international energy consultancy.
He said traders were snapping up oil because they considered the price level to be a buying opportunity.
On the currency markets the euro firmed against the dollar after dealers saw nothing to support a weekend media report that Greece was thinking of leaving the eurozone.
"A Greek exit (of the) monetary union remains highly unlikely, but the odds must be recognised above zero," Brown Brothers Harriman said in a note to clients.
"Aside from the direct and indirect financial costs to banks, including the European Central Bank, if Greece were to leave, it would raise the risk that others would exit and could fatally undermine the entire monetary union, if not the European Union itself, which Greece apparently would have to leave as well," it said.
The euro fetched $1.4395 from an earlier low of 1.4338. The single currency traded at 116.00 yen, up from 115.42 late Friday in New York. The dollar fetched 80.62 yen in Tokyo morning trade.
Gold opened at $1,494.50-$1,495.50, up from its Friday close of $1,481.00-$1,482.00, after the market showed signs of recovering from the precious metals sell-off at the back end of last week.
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