Asian Stocks End Mostly Lower

Updated from 2:18 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Most Asian stocks Monday were trading below the break-even line, reflecting the selling seen during the U.S. session on Friday.

The Nikkei index in Japan closed down 0.6% to 9674.49. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index bucked the trend and gained 0.3%, while markets in China were closed for a holiday.

S&P 500 futures were higher.

Sector Moves: Banks were trading broadly higher in Asia, but the gains were small. In Japan, financials were led by Nomura Holdings(NMR Quote). However, banks in Hong Kong were moving lower after HSBC's(HBC Quote) CEO said that he is cautious about growing too fast.

Other than the banking sector, technology companies declined in Monday trade as some investors consider that the global recovery will be much slower than the market already had priced in.

Economic Moves: A report from Australia has shown that the number of advertisements featuring jobs increased in September. The report showed that job advertisements increased by 4.4%, for a second monthly gain. Also, the country's services sector has slowed the pace of contraction during September. The index gained 1.3 points during the month to a 49.3 reading. The critical 50 level is what separates contraction from expansion. This adds fuel to the fire that the central bank, which meets Tuesday, may decide to hike interest rates to 3.25% from 3%.

Crude oil for October delivery was recently trading at $69.47 a barrel, lower by 48 cents. The market is trading below the $70 benchmark level, the same place that acted as an important intraday swing point in Friday trade.