Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.4 percent on Monday with investor sentiment dampened after last week's downbeat U.S. employment data dented hopes for an economic recovery.
Concerns about the outlook for the global economy hit resource-linked shares such as oil and gas developer Inpex Corp and trading houses including Mitsui & Co.
Nippon Yusen and other shippers fell after the Baltic Exchange's main sea fright index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, dropped more than 4 percent on Friday to a three-week low on softer demand for goods..
But Pasona Group Inc jumped 8 percent to 67,500 yen after the staffing service firm said its net profit is likely to be better than it estimated earlier as a tough jobs market has prompted a cut in recruiting costs.
"The immediate factors that pulled the market down were lower U.S. stock futures and concerns toward the yen strengthening further," said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management. S&P stock futures lost 0.8 percent.
"Stock markets in the United States and Europe are significantly down from peaks reached in June, and how they perform is expected to dictate this week's moves," said Nagano.
Overall trading was subdued as a wait-and-see mood prevailed as the U.S. corporate earnings reporting season begins this week with bellwethers Alcoa and Chevron posting quarterly scorecards.
Another focal point in the near term will be the U.S. Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index due on Monday.
The Nikkei fell 135.20 points to 9,680.87, below its 25-day moving average, which is now around 9,800.
The Nikkei has lost some momentum after reaching an eight-month high of 10,170.82 in June, but is still nearly 40 percent above a trough hit in March.
The broader Topix lost 0.9 percent to 912.42.
Trading volume was light, with 1.61 billion shares changing hands on the Tokyo exchange's first section, down from last week's daily average of 2.1 billion shares.
Declining shares outnumbered advancing ones 2 to 1.
RESOURCE-LINKED SHARES, SHIPPERS DOWN
Among the gainers was Ube Industries, which rose 0.7 percent to 281 yen after Daiwa Institute of Research lifted its rating to "2" from "3", citing a marked improvement in its sales, driven by a recovery in demand in China and the rest of Asia.
Investors seem reluctant to chase share prices higher at this point, and are probably looking to sell on any rallies, said Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Shares of Shionogi & Co rose 2.6 percent to 1,928 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported that the drugmaker aims to begin producing biotechnology anti-cancer drugs, a move expected to help it keep up with foreign rivals.
Mitsui & Co fell 3.1 percent to 1,083 yen and fellow trading house Marbueni Corp also dropped 3.1 percent, to 402 yen.
Inpex lost 3 percent to 713,000 yen.
Other resource-linked shares hit on Monday included smelters of non-ferrous metals such as Dowa Holdings, which declined 3.3 percent to 379 yen, and Sumitomo Metal and Mining, which lost 3.2 percent to 1,343 yen.
Nippon Yusen fell 3.4 percent to 396 yen and rival shipper Kawasaki Kisen dropped 2.6 percent to 369 yen.
The shipping subindex fell 3.57 percent to become the biggest decliner among the sub-indexes.
Data on Thursday showed employers in the United States shed nearly half a million jobs in June with the unemployment rate jumping to 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years.
The dollar dipped 0.8 percent to 95.27 yen on trading platform EBS.
