SINGAPORE — Shares in Japan looked set for a lower start on Monday, with mainland China markets poised to return to trade following the Lunar New Year holidays last week.

Chicago had a Nikkei futures market at 27,280 and Osaka at 27,290. Compare that to Nikkei 225’sLast closing at 27,439.99

And elsewhere, S&P/ASX 200Australia saw a 0.8% drop in morning trading.

It U.S. dollar indexThe indices that track the greenback in relation to a basket of its peers were at 95.44, after a decline below 95.9.

It Japanese yenAfter last week’s weakness against the greenback, it traded at 115.28 dollars. After last week’s weakening from below 114.4, the dollar traded at 115.28 dollars. Australian dollarThe price was $0.7079, a significant drop from the $0.714 last week.