Japanese Stocks Lead Asian Declines, While European Equities Ticks Higher

Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday, led by another sell-off in Japanese equities.

Japan's Nikkei index tumbled 3.11 percent, adding to Thursday's 3.61 percent loss (Japanese markets were closed on Friday for a national holiday), after the country's currency realized its largest two-day gain against the U.S. dollar since 2008.

"While lingering disappointment from the Bank of Japan's inaction continues to weigh in Japanese markets, negative sentiment started filtering through to other global markets and this ripple effect should be closely monitored as the negative impact from waning global risk sentiment could add more fuel to an already overheated yen," CNBC quoted Stephen Innes, a senior trader at OANDA as saying in a note Monday.

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.50 percent, Taiwan's TSEC index lost 1.13 percent, India's Mumbai Sensex index lost 0.66 percent, China's Shanghai index lost 0.25 percent and Australia's ASX index lost 0.08 percent.

Meanwhile, global investors were taking a different approach to European equities. With more than 4 hours of trading remaining, Germany's DAX index led major European indices wit a 0.85 percent gain. France's CAC index was higher by 0.39 percent while the broad Euro Stoxx index was higher by 0.22 percent.

UK markets were closed for a national holiday.

Oil prices were trading lower Monday morning. As a reminder, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Friday its April export activity rose to 32.64 million barrels per day (from 32.47 million in March) - close to the highest level in recent history.

Crude futures for June delivery were lower by 0.7 percent at $45.60 a barrel, while Brent crude for June delivery was lower by 1.1 percent at $46.84 a barrel.