Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Monday as investors reassessed artificial intelligence-driven investments and looked ahead to the release of the Federal Reserve's June meeting minutes later this week.
By 11:45 am AEST (1:45 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed, Japan's Nikkei 225 had fallen 0.5%, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 gained 0.5%.
Regional technology stocks saw mixed movements in early trade, with Korea's Samsung Electronics up 2.1%, and Japan's Tokyo Electron down 1.8%.
The early moves follow another strong week on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed nearly 2% to finish within reach of the 53,000-point milestone for the first time. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also posted weekly gains of 1.8% and 2.1%, respectively.
Attention now turns to the Federal Reserve, with investors awaiting the release of minutes from the central bank's June policy meeting on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).
The meeting was the first chaired by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh and is expected to provide further insight into policymakers' outlook for inflation, interest rates and economic growth.
U.S. equity markets were closed on Friday for the Independence Day public holiday.
In commodity markets, ICE Brent crude rose 0.5% on Friday to settle at US$72.12 a barrel, while spot gold climbed 1.3% to finish at $4,174.44 an ounce.
Chinese equities ended higher at the end of last week, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.4% to 4,043.6 and the CSI 300 adding 0.6% to 4,842.2.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 1.3% to 23,350.0, while India's BSE Sensex gained 0.3% to 77,763.9.
European markets also finished higher on Friday. The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 10,679.0, its highest close since 2 March, Germany's DAX gained 0.8% to a record closing high of 25,779.3, while France's CAC 40 added 0.4% to 8,508.1, marking its strongest finish since 27 February.
