Markets in Asia were mostly lower Monday on continued fears that a global economic recovery may take longer than expected, while investors lacked direction from the United States.

There were also concerns about the Upcoming second quarter earnings season, which begins in lite US tills week, with many traders remaining cautious.

Tokyo fell 1.38 percent, Sydney shed 1.16 percent and Hong Kong lost 1.23 percent, while Singapore slipped 1.46 percent.

Mumbai dived almost six percent after a budget that warned of a ballooning fiscal deficit.

Players struggled with a lack of leads as Wall Street was closed Friday for a public holiday to mark Independence Day.

Grim US jobs data late last week led dealers to question recent confidence in a world recovery, pulling most markets down.

Bangkok was closed for a public holiday.

TOKYO: Down 1.38 percent. The Nikkei-225 dropped 135.20 points to 9,680.87.

Prices fell for a fourth straight session.

"The market is now aware that economic rebound hopes had been too high," Yumi Nishimura, an analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC, told Dow Jones Newswires.

HONG KONG: Down 1.23 percent. The Hang Seng Index closed 223.99 points lower at 17,979.41.

SYDNEY: Down 1.16 percent. The S&P/ASX200 closed down 44.5 points at 3,783.7.

SHANGHAI: Up 1.18 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was up 36.30 points to3,124.67.

Rising steel prices and growing economic optimism boosted demand for steel makers while securities firms benefited from a resumption of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Shanghai,

traders said.

The index ended at its highest since June 6,2008 when it hit 3,329.67.

TAIPEI: Down 0.23 percent. The weighted index fell 15.49 points to 6,649.91.

SEOUL: Up 0.62 percent. The KOSPI ended up 8.90 points at 1,428.94.

SINGAPORE: Down 1.46 percent. The Straits Times Index fell 33.66 points to 2,266.09.

KUALA LUMPUR: Down 0.63 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 6.86 points to close at 1,065.83.

JAKARTA: Down 1.94 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 40.29 points to 2,035.01.

MANILA: Up 0.73 percent.The composite index added 17.76 points to 2,449.10.

WELLINGTON: Down 0.67 percent. The NZX-50 index fell 18.53 points to close at 2,742.97.

MUMBAI: Down 5.83 percent. The 30-share Sensex fell 869.65 points to 14,043.4.