FRANKFURT - European stocks mostly climbed on Monday, recovering from pre-weekend losses though traders were keeping a wary eye on the risks for China's property sector, which sent Asian markets into the red.
Developer Country Garden missed bond payments and warned of multibillion-dollar losses, deepening concerns over China's heavily indebted real estate sector and the potential fallout on the world's second-largest economy.
Frankfurt and Paris were up in early exchanges, though London was trading lower.
Hong Kong and Singapore shares ended down more than one percent. Tokyo closed down by a similar amount while Shanghai and Manila also closed in the red.
Like its heavily indebted competitor Evergrande, any collapse of Country Garden would have catastrophic repercussions for the Chinese financial system and economy.
Fears for Chinese property companies were causing regional markets' gradual decline, said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar at one point was fetching 145.10 yen on Monday, its strongest level against the Japanese currency since November.
But the yen rebounded and was trading at 144.80 per dollar when the market closed, against 144.93 yen seen Friday in New York.
The ruble slid past 100 against the dollar, its lowest level since March 23, 2022 -- shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Traders were also watching US inflation risks after data on Friday showed a bigger-than-expected rise in wholesale inflation.