Markets got off to a hesitant start Monday as investor doubts on the staying power of a global recovery kept Asian stocks soggy and currencies subdued ahead of a much-expanded Group of Eight meeting this week.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.4 per cent to 9,680.87, while the MSCI index of Asia ex-Japan eased 1.1 per cent to 319.61.

The air of caution kept the US dollar and bonds supported as safe-havens, while pressuring commodity prices. Crude oil futures were down at five-weeks lows of $US65.00 a barrel.

Investors were still smarting from last week's dismal US payrolls report which put a question mark over the recovery there, and thus across the globe.

"The payrolls result doesn't spell the end of the global sharemarket recovery," said Craig James, chief economist at CommSec in Sydney, noting that forward-looking indicators were more encouraging.

One such should be the ISM reading of the giant U.S. services sector due later Monday which is expected to show a rise to 46.0 in June, from 44.0 the month before.

"But what the payrolls result does signify is that the US economic recovery will be U-shaped, and very likely to be a very flat U," said James.

Stock bulls had been hoping for something more "V"-shaped and the disappointment was clear in Thursday's 2.9 per cent drop in the S&P 500. Having skipped a session on Friday for the Independence Day holiday, S&P 500 stock futures were off 0.86 per cent in Asia at 885.90.

That implied the cash index was perilously close to breaking major chart support of a head and shoulders pattern.

"The "neckline" of this pattern comes in at 886 and this is also very close to the much-watched 200-day moving average," noted analysts at UBS in a note. "A break and close through these levels would be bearish for stocks and bullish for our fond leanings toward Treasuries."

Investors were also wary ahead of the Group of Eight summit in L'Aquila, Italy on July 8-10, which has been expanded to include China and a host of developing nations.

China last week floated the idea of discussing the US dollar's place as the sole international reserve currency, causing a brief dip in the currency.

The G8 pushed back, however, with a source telling Reuters there was no appetite for such a momentous change.

There is pretty broad consensus with the G8 that this is not the time to experiment with reserve currencies, however attractive it might seem," the source said.

Reuters