Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Monday as continued concerns over the outlook for Europe overshadowed better-than-expected US jobs data on Friday, and pushed the euro to fresh lows against the US dollar and the Japanese yen. Concerns abound about the ability of European leaders to find a comprehensive solution to the eurozone's ongoing sovereign-debt and banking crisis amid growing worries over the outlook for Greece, Italy and Spain. Monday brings a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The uncertainty eclipsed positive US economic data on Friday, which showed a drop in the US unemployment rate to its lowest level since February 2009.

Nikkei 225 closed

Hang Seng 18,866 +272.66 +1.47%

S&P/ASX 200 4,105 -3.07 -0.07%

Shanghai Composite 2,226 +62.49 +2.89%