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 The dollar, however, tumbled against the Japanese yen as investors
sought shelter from the fall in equities, which saw Chinese stocks
lose nearly 3 percent. Gold, another "safe haven", rose and was on
track for its best month in four years.
U.S. stocks were expected to follow European and Asian shares lower,
index futures showed.
Weak equities sharpened investor appetite for low-risk government
debt and 10-year German Bund yields hit 10-month lows after
data showed deflation returned to the euro zone this month.
G20 finance ministers and central bankers, meeting in Shanghai on
Friday and Saturday, agreed to use "all policy tools – monetary,
fiscal and structural – individually and collectively" to reach the
group's economic goals.
But there was no plan for coordinated stimulus, which some investors
had been seeking after concerns about a slowdown in China depressed
markets at the beginning of 2016.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.5 percent, coming off
a three-week high hit on Friday, and Germany's DAX was down
1.2 percent.
Britain's FTSE 100 index lost 0.4 percent.
"Markets looked at the G20 meeting and found it a tad disappointing,
what they had been looking for was a unification of the G20 to do
something as a force," said Peter Lowman, CIO of Investment Quorum,
a London-based wealth management firm.
REAL ESTATE
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> dipped 0.6 percent and looked set to post its second
consecutive monthly loss, with a 1.2 percent drop so far.
Chinese shares closed at one-month lows. The CSI300 index of the
largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, closed down 2.5
percent while the Shanghai Composite index fell 2.9 percent on
concern rising real estate prices would see funds withdrawn from
shares.
After the market closed, China cut the amount of cash banks must
hold as reserves for the fifth time since last February.
The yuan hit a three week low of 6.5585 per dollar in offshore
trade.
Tokyo's Nikkei lost 1 percent as the yen gained, causing headaches
for Japanese exporters, and on China worries.
The yen gained 1 percent to 112.90 per dollar. The euro dipped 0.4
percent to a four-week low of $1.0882 after euro zone data showed
consumer prices fell 0.2 percent, pushing the bloc into deflation
for the first time since September.
The data ratcheted up expectations the European Central Bank would
deliver more stimulus at its meeting on March 10.
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Overall, the dollar rose 0.2 percent against a basket of its peers,
extending gains from Friday when U.S. data showed consumer spending
and underlying inflation picked up last month and the economy grew
faster than earlier thought last quarter.
That revived expectations U.S. interest rates could rise again this
year. Any 2016 hike had been priced out of markets but federal funds
futures implied around a 50 percent chance of a rise before the year
is out.
"Reviving expectations for a rate hike by the Fed is a key factor to
halt the dollar's recent depreciation," said Koji Fukaya, president
of FPG Securities in Tokyo.
Sterling, which took a hit last week on worries Britons could vote
to leave the European Union in a June referendum, dipped 0.1 percent
to $1.3850.
TREASURIES
Weaker stocks helped raise investor appetite for low-risk government
debt. U.S. 10-year Treasuries yielded 1.74 percent, compared
with 1.77 percent in New York on Friday.
German 10-year Bund yields fell 4 basis points to 0.11 percent
and British gilt yields were down 4 bps to 1.36 percent.
Oil prices edged up as some in markets said a fall, which has seen
crude lose some 70 percent since mid-2014, may have reached a
bottom. Data on Friday showed a fall in the number of U.S. shale oil
rigs in production.
Brent crude rose 25 cents a barrel to $35.35. It is up 18
percent since Feb. 11, the last day on which it dipped below $30.
Gold gained 1 percent to $1,233 an ounce and has risen 10 percent
this month, its best performance in four years.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Henning Gloystein
in Singapore, Sujata Rao, John Geddie and Patrick Graham in London;
Editing by Toby Chopra)
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