The pan-Asia stock index posted a third consecutive week of losses last week, shedding 0.8 per cent for its longest losing streak in six months. The index has now wiped out all its gains for the year, having been up some 15 per cent from end-2011 levels in late February.
Japan's Nikkei average opened up 0.3 per cent. It posted its longest weekly losing run in 20 years last week.
Investors sold off riskier assets and fled to the safety of the US dollar last week on mounting concerns about Greece and instability in the Spanish banking sector amid a lack of immediate policy responses from European leaders.
Currency speculators raised long dollar positions to the highest level since at least mid-2008 while euro short positions rose to the highest on record, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. Speculators also were net short on the Australian dollar, having cut their net long positions all month.
"In the absence of bold policy responses from Europe so far, we recommend being long the USD and JPY," Barclays Capital analysts said in a research note. "Should data or headlines surprise to the upside, safe haven longs may see some unwind, and we favour fading these moves," they said.
Trading is expected to be subdued on Monday amid a lack of key economic data and a US market holiday for Memorial Day.
US crude rose 0.5 per cent to $91.31 a barrel on Monday while Brent was up 0.1 per cent at $106.97 a barrel.
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