AKIPRESS.COM - Japanese stocks stabilized Monday after heavy selling last week, while markets in Australia and Shanghai moved lower in a mixed session for Asia, MarketWatch reported.

The Nikkei was flat and the yen was a touch higher at ¥101.54 to the dollar, compared with ¥101.62 late Friday in New York.

Last week, the Nikkei suffered its worst week in three years, as investors questioned the viability of the country’s economic recovery. Its 7.3% decline was triggered by some of its largest constituents – such as Fast Retailing Co. Ltd., which sank 7.9% on Friday.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 0.4%, South Korea’s Kospi was less than 0.1% lower, and the Philippines PSE was down 0.2%.

Singapore was in positive territory, with stocks 0.6% higher after an announcement that first quarter gross domestic product climbed 5.1% from a year earlier.

In China, stocks were mixed ahead of economic news coming later in the week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.2% ahead of Wednesday’s first quarter growth numbers, which will provide an update on the health of the Chinese economy, and will come alongside industrial output figures and retail sales numbers.

In Hong Kong, Citic Securities lost 1.6% after the company bought a stake in U.S. brokerage BTIG LLC, which it made through its Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. This is the company’s latest move to grow outside China by buying a holding in a Western investment firm.