Wall Street, currencies in sight

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region traded mixed on Monday morning, as markets in Japan are closed for holidays.

Mainland China shares were mixed at the start of trade, with the Shanghai Composite rising slightly and the Shenzhen component falling above 1.5%. The Shenzhen composite also declined 0.454%.

An investor told CNBC that Chinese market valuations are "a little expensive" at the moment.

"When you look at valuation levels on a P / E basis as well as on a price-to-value basis for MSCI China, they are already above their 10-year and 15-year historical averages." With CSI 300, Ken Wong , a specialist in Asian equity portfolios at Eastspring Investments, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" channel on Monday.

In such scenarios, when historical valuations "get a little stretched", investors tend to "take a little profit," he added. "That's exactly what we saw last week."

Mainland China's markets posted their worst weekly performance since October, as the Shanghai Composite fell by more than 5.5%.

The research firm Capital Economics attributed this weakness to comments made by China's main decision-making body on the country's economic stimulus plans. The Chinese authorities said they would continue to support the economy, but higher-than-expected GDP results in the first quarter raised concerns about a possible easing of policy in the near term.

At the same time, the Hang Seng Hong Kong index rose 0.35%.

In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.38%, as shares in the Samsung Electronics heavyweight jumped more than 1%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was down 0.31%, with most sectors showing a decline in activity.

Japan currently has 10 days of vacation from April 27 to May 6 to celebrate the enthronement of the country's crown prince, Naruhito.

The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished the previous week at unprecedented highs. The S & P 500 climbed 0.5% to 2,939.88, a record high. The Nasdaq also ended the day up 0.3% to 8,146.40. At the same time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 81.25 points to close at 26,543.33.

Movements on Wall Street came after the release of better-than-expected US economic data. The gross domestic product of the first quarter is set at 3.2 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday, surpassing the consensus economic estimate of 2.5 percent, according to Dow Jones. An increase in exports resulted in a better than expected number.

The S & P 500 and Nasdaq posted solid gains last week after more than 140 companies released their quarterly reports. Both indexes increased by 1.2% and 1.9% respectively. The Dow, meanwhile, recorded a slight weekly loss.

The US dollar index, which compares the greenback to a basket of peers, stood at 98.050 after hitting highs above 98.1 last week.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.63 against a dollar after touching lows above 112.2 in the previous trading week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7047 after sliding above $ 0.714 last week.

"In our opinion, the US markets will be largely responsible for the foreign exchange markets this week." Key events in the US are the April ISM Manufacturing meeting (Thursday), the non-farm payroll ( Friday) and the Federal Open Market Committee (Thu), "the strategists of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a note.

Oil prices fell in the morning of Asian trading hours, the Brent international benchmark futures contract fell 0.36% to $ 71.89 a barrel and US crude futures fell 0.43% to $ 63.03 per barrel.

– Fred Imbert of CNBC and Lizzy Gurdus contributed to this report.