WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Asian shares are likely to ease on Monday as US stocks weakened on jobs data, raising fears that recession in the world's largest economy would deepen.

Although the half-million jobs lost in the US economy was in line with expectations, investors worried about the effect of rising unemployment on the outlook for corporate earnings.

Wall Street's major indexes fell by as much as 2.8 percent.

Japanese markets are closed Monday for the Coming of Age day holiday.

The US dollar and the yen both gained against the euro, as weaker stock markets saw a flow of money to safer assets, into US treasuries and unwinding yen borrowings.

Crude oil prices fell on fears that US job losses would hit consumption in the world's biggest oil market.