Oil marketing companies may be in focus on steep hike in fuel prices. Petrol price is raised by Rs 1.34 a litre, fifth increase in two months. Diesel, too, is hiked by Rs 2.37 a litre on back of spike in global rates.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2 percent in early trade while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent.
In the US, stocks closed mostly higher on Friday as investors digested commentary from key Federal Reserve officials while parsing through strong bank earnings and US economic data.
