In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed the morning down 80.89 points at 15,761.76, while the Nikkei was recently up 28.01 points at 14,907.35.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, was down 23 cents at $69.65 a barrel from $69.88 in the US late Friday.
Early broker notes:
DEBENHAMS STARTED AS 'OVERWEIGHT' BY MORGAN STANLEY, 230 PENCE TARGET
DEBENHAMS STARTED AS 'OUTPERFORM' BY CREDIT SUISSE, 220 PENCE TARGET
WOOLWORTHS DOWNGRADED TO 'UNDERPERFORM' FROM 'NEUTRAL' BY CREDIT SUISSE