European markets

European stocks finished flat to lower Monday, with volumes thinned by the absence of U.S. and U.K. markets and with German utility shares lower on a report that the country has set a final date for shuttering its nuclear reactors. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.1% to 278.82. According to media reports, Germany will close all its nuclear plants by 2022, in the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami that critically damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Workers continue to struggle to cool the plant's reactors and minimize radiation leaks. Benefitting from the news that German is phasing out nuclear, shares of Solarworld AG soared 8.8%. Among others, Renewable Energy Corp. ASA rose 3.7%, Vestas Wind Systems AS jumped 2.7% and Gamesa Corp. Technologia gained 5.2%. Utility companies fell in Germany Monday, with shares of RWE AG down 1.7% and E.On AG off 2.3%. Both are among the utility companies that run nuclear plants in Germany. The German DAX 30 index traded flat at 7,160.3, with downside pressure also coming from Commerzbank AG, off 2.9%, while both BASF SE and Bayer AG rose 1%. The France CAC 40 index fell 0.2% to 3,942.53, with shares of Credit Agricole SA down 1.6% and Societe Generale SA down 0.7%. Sovereign-debt issues stayed in the spotlight.

Asian markets

Mainland Chinese stocks finished lower for an eighth successive session Monday, as traders were unable to shed concerns that high inflation will drive Beijing into policies that could slow economic growth. Japanese stocks were pressured by a stronger yen against the U.S. dollar. Many of the regional markets changed direction a few times during a choppy session, amid investor caution ahead of holidays Monday in the U.S. and U.K. and manufacturing purchasing managers' indexes later this week from various Asian countries, including China. After several rebounds during the session, the Shanghai Composite index finished the day 0.1% lower at 2706.36. Lingering concerns about monetary tightening have pulled the stock benchmark down more than 7% in May. Poly Real Estate Group dropped 3.3%, Yanzhou Coal Mining gave up 2.8% in Shanghai trading.

Elsewhere in the region, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropped 0.2% to 9504.97 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.3% to 2093.79. Heading the other way, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% to 23184.32 and Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.2% to 8823.68. The drop in Shanghai didn't stop the Hong Kong market from rising for a fifth day in a row. China Unicom Hong Kong added 2.9% on hopes for strong subscriber additions for the company's 3G mobile services in coming months. Internet major Tencent Holdings added 1.4% on an upbeat earnings outlook. Shares of some exporters were behind the decline in Tokyo. Nintendo fell 1.7%, while Toyota Motor dropped 0.2%. Sony Corp. lost 2.1% after reports an executive would testify before the U.S. Congress over recent cyberattacks that compromised some customer data.