Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Monday with Tokyo and Seoul posting some early gains despite another provocative missile test by North Korea.
Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.20%, while South Korea's Kospi added 0.49%, shrugging off the North Korea missile tests. The Kospi has posted seven straight session of gains. But the S&P/ASX 200 was flat.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down by 0.03 %.
Markets in China, the U.K. and the U.S. are closed for holidays.
Last week, U.S. stocks pulled back from highs on Friday, ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, as investors mulled over the release of mostly upbeat economic data, fuelling expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike rates in June.
The U.S. economy grew faster than initially reported during the first three months of 2017, easing concerns about a potential slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 1.2% in the first three months of 2017, according to a survey from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, well above the previous reading of 0.7%, which was the slowest period of economic growth since 2014.
In a separate report, The Commerce Department said durable goods orders fell 0.7% in April after rising 2.3% in March. Economists had expected a 1.2% drop in durable goods order.
The upbeat bout of economic data raised investor expectations of a June rate hike in the wake of the minutes to the Federal Reserve May 2-3 meeting, released on Wednesday, which revealed that some Fed members cautioned that longer-term rate increases would be subject to economic data, showing the dip in first quarter economic growth had been “transitory”.
According to investing.com’s Fed rate monitor tool more than 80% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to hike its benchmark rate in June, compared to below 70% of traders in the previous week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average down at 21,078.33, up 0.02%. The S&P 500 closed roughly flat while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6120.19, up 0.08%.