Asian shares drift lower on Greece worries

Tokyo fell 0.39 per cent, or 34.31 points, to 8,767.09 and Sydney closed 0.18 per cent, or 7.7 points, lower at 4,273.4, while Seoul fell 0.48 per cent, or 9.31 points, to 1,919.10.

Hong Kong slipped 0.83 per cent, or 164.90 points, to 19,677.89 and Shanghai was off 0.73 per cent, or 18.49 points, at 2,509.80.

A new Greek prime minister and cabinet will be named after talks between outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou and the conservative head of the opposition Antonis Samaras.

The historic power-sharing deal was reached in dramatic late-night talks Sunday after Papandreou agreed to quit. The embattled premier drew widespread criticism over plans to put a debt-bailout package to a national vote.

The move stunned fellow European leaders, sent global markets into a tailspin and earned him a humiliating dressing-down at a G20 summit in France. Papandreou hastily retracted the proposal.

However, it remained unclear whether news of a new leader in Athens would calm jittery markets as talks over how to fix the eurozone debt crisis have yielded little in the way of concrete details.

Fears the debt crisis will spread to Italy added to the downward pressure on markets amid warnings the country -- which is also struggling with huge debts -- could soon be unable to finance them as yields on government bonds rise.

Italian 10-year borrowing rates rose to a record 6.5 per cent on the bond market in early European trade Monday.

On currency markets in afternoon Asian trade, the euro eased against the dollar fetching $1.3725 and 107.20 yen against $1.3788 and 107.89 in New York late Friday.

The dollar bought 78.08 yen compared to 78.23 yen.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for December delivery was 37 cents higher at $94.63 a barrel and Brent North Sea oil for December delivery advanced $1.11 to $113.08.

At 1000 GMT gold was higher at $1,763.55 an ounce against $1,758.50 late Friday.

In Tokyo, Toyota was down 0.23 per cent at 2,546 yen as the impact of severe flooding in Thailand on parts supply hit its global production. The auto giant is to release its April-September earnings on Tuesday.

Rival Nissan dropped 1.63 per cent to 723 yen despite an announcement by ratings agency Fitch on Friday that it had upgraded the automaker citing its strong operating performance and improvement in credit metrics.

Olympus, mired in controversy over payments made in deals between 2006-2008, tumbled 7.51 per cent to 1,034 yen after it delayed its interim earnings report to take into account a probe into the fees.

In other markets:

-- Taipei gained 0.24 per cent, or 18.49 points, to end at 7,621.72.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.54 per cent higher at Tw$75.0 while leading smartphone maker HTC added 2.03 per cent to Tw$653.0

-- Wellington ended 0.31 per cent, or 10.40 points, higher at 3,342.19.

Fletcher Building gained 0.8 per cent to NZ$6.50 and Telecom added 0.2 per cent to NZ$2.64.

-- Jakarta closed down 0.14 per cent, or 5.39 points, at 3,778.24.

-- Bangkok was 0.13 per cent, or 1.29 points, lower at 956.02

-- Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai were closed for public holidays.

-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story --