Australian shares pared losses in late trading to settle modestly weaker, as gains by resources and consumer companies helped offset broad losses. Eating into Friday’s recovery, the S&P/ASX 200 joined markets across much of the region with a drop of 0.1% to 6691.2.
Property stocks underpinned the fall, while Commonwealth Bank led the heavily-weighted banks lower with a drop of 0.3% to snap a three-session run higher. Still, National Australia Bank added to its recent strength after the appointment of new CEO, rising 0.2%. And the energy sector gained after crude rose strongly Friday with heightened
tensions in the Middle East, while miners were up 1.3%. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average flipped between gains and losses, as investors prepared for a week filled with fresh economic data and more corporate earnings reports.
The blue-chip index ticked up 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to 27156. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.3% as technology stocks advanced 1.1%, offsetting losses elsewhere. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.
Investors braced for fresh economic data this week as expectations for interest-rate cuts from major central banks grow. Reports on new-home sales and durable-goods orders are on tap Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department will report second-quarter growth figures on Friday.
As central banks across the globe are expected to undertake fresh stimulus measures in the coming months, investors are looking ahead to policy meetings from the Federal Reserve next week and the European Central Bank on Thursday.
Earnings season is in full swing, with Google parent Alphabet, e-commerce giant Amazon and social-networking company Facebook among notable companies reporting quarterly results later in the week. Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to fall 2.1% from a year earlier, according to FactSet.
Shares of Equifax rose 0.9% after the credit-reporting company said it would pay $700 million to settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit related to a breach in 2017 that exposed the data of close to 150 million Americans.

Silver futures settled at a 13-month high, outpacing strength in gold, which saw prices eke out only a modest gain.
Rising geopolitical worries on the back of Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker, as investors look for major central banks to ease policy, provided support for the precious metals.
September silver rose 21.6 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $16.411 an ounce – logging the highest finish for a most-active contract since June 22, 2018, according to FactSet data.
Meanwhile, gold for August delivery on Comex climbed by 20 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,426.90 an ounce. Prices on Friday had touched an intraday high above $1,450, the highest such level since May 2013, before settling down by 0.1% on Friday. They remain close to the more than six-year high of $1,428.10 they settled on Thursday.

Oil prices finished higher, as investors watched an increasingly complicated situation in the Persian Gulf after Iran late last week seized a British-flagged tanker, and as the U.K. faces a change in leadership.
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose 59 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $56.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the contract’s expiration day. The August contract settled 7.6% lower last week. September WTI oil, which is now the front-month contract, also settled at $56.22, up 46 cents, or 0.8%.
Brent crude for September delivery, the global benchmark, added 79 cents, or 1.3%, to finish at $63.26 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. The contract slid 6.4% last week.

The euro hit its lowest level against the Swiss franc in about two years, as investors cut positions in the common currency ahead of expected easing by the European Central Bank. The euro was recently down 0.1% at 1.1007.
The franc, a popular destination for nervous investors, is up more than 4% against the euro since late April, boosted by eurozone economic weakness and easing expectations.
The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 others, was recently up 0.1% at 90.12.

The European market wavered as earnings season rolled on. The Stoxx 600 in Europe ended the session 0.1% higher.
Shares in Dutch technology group Koninklijke Philips jumped 4.3% after the company posted better-than-expected results early Monday, with rising sales and margins.
Meanwhile, shares in Whitbread, the hotels and restaurants group that includes Premier Inn lost 3.7%. The company said it had returned GBP2.5 billion ($3.1 billion) to shareholders following the sale of its Costa coffee chain last year.

In Asia, China’s new market for homegrown technology stocks opened with a rally Monday.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Science and Technology Innovation Board, also known as the STAR market, was launched this week as part of the country’s effort to lead the world of global tech. Of the 25 companies traded on the exchange, a semiconductor group and
medical instrument maker surged the most.
Other Asian markets dropped, however, with China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.3% and 1.4%, respectively.
Indian shares also closed lower. India’s Sensex closed down 0.8% at 38031.13.
Financials were among the main losers.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index ended 0.6% lower at 3357.22. The market will likely look for cues from corporate earnings. The local inflation data due Tuesday will be watched for their possible implications for monetary policy.