Asian stocks opened with losses on Monday, as unease lingered over tightening monetary policy by the Fed and investors awaited earnings reports by retailers due this week.

Wall Street stocks mostly fell on Friday. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq retreated as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed above 2.7 per cent, a signal that markets are preparing for more tightening as the Federal Reserve battles inflation.

The losses continued on Monday in Tokyo, as well as in Hong Kong and Shanghai where the main indexes lost more than two per cent. Taipei and Seoul were also down, while Sydney and Jakarta posted slight gains.

“Stocks are soft at the Monday open on increasing evidence the Federal Reserve will take a more committed approach to its monetary policy inflation-fighting stance,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “However, markets have been surprisingly resilient as discussions under the surface debated whether this week’s US March CPI data will hint at the peak of the inflation cycle and help the Fed’s chance to better engineer a soft landing, however narrow that path may seem.”

And Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist of Monex, added: “Focus this week is on the US and Chinese consumer price indexes for March,” among other data, to glean clues on the Fed’s monetary policy and that of other central banks.

"Focus this week is on the US and Chinese consumer price indexes for March,” among other data, to glean clues on the Fed’s monetary policy and that of other central banks- Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist of Monex

The US central bank has recently taken a hawkish tone as it embarks on an aggressive tightening path, prompting traders to fret over the prospect of higher interest rates.

The euro climbed as much as 0.7 per cent against the dollar before paring the gain, suggesting some relief over the French election but ongoing wariness.