Asian markets mostly tumble

Markets tumbled as better-than-expected US jobs data were overshadowed by figures indicating a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy.A declaration by a global derivatives group that Greeces debt restructuring deal last week had led to the country defaulting on its repayment obligations also hurt confidence and weighed on the euro.Tokyo was 0.34 percent higher, Hong Kong slipped 0.27 percent by the break, Sydney was off 0.21 percent, Seoul shed 0.64 percent and Shanghai dropped 0.26 percent.The US Labor Department said at the end of last week that the economy had added a net 227,000 jobs in February, well above expectations, and the unemployment rate held at a three-year-low of 8.3 percent.Fridays announcement was the latest in a string of upbeat jobs figures that suggest recovery in the worlds biggest economy is finally beginning to get on track.The news pushed the dollar higher, hitting a 10-month-high 82.65 yen on Friday before easing slightly. On Monday morning it bought 82.33 yen in Tokyo.The US unit was also supported by the fact that the Federal Reserve was unlikely to announce any more monetary easing -- which would cheapen the dollar -- while the economy looked to be doing so well.The possibility that the US Fed takes a fresh monetary easing measure is receding given recent comments by Fed officials and strong economic data, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Barclays Capital.He added that there are mounting expectations that the Bank of Japan may take further monetary easing measures following last months move to pump $130 billion more into the countrys moribund economy to combat deflation.However, Asian sentiment was knocked Monday after China at the weekend revealed a huge trade deficit of $31.48 billion in February owing to the economic woes in its key US and European export markets.The deficit was the largest for at least 12 years, according to Dow Jones Newswires -- the extent of its archived data -- and far in excess of the median forecast of $8.5 billion among 15 economists it surveyed. Statistics on Friday showed inflation came in at its slowest pace since June 2010 while output growth also eased.Optimism was also weighed by the International Swaps and Derivatives Associations declaration that Greeces debt deal amounted to a credit event, triggering $3.2 billion in insurance repayments to the countrys investors.Greece said at the end of last week that 83.5 percent of its private creditors had accepted a deal to take a huge loss on their holdings, which wiped more than 100 billion euros off Greeces huge debt mountain.The huge uptake meant Athens could force the holdouts into the deal also, meaning the country had broken an agreement over the debt between issuer and buyer -- a credit event.The euro edged lower, buying $1.3110 and 107.96 yen in Tokyo, compared with $1.3120 and 108.19 yen late Friday in New York.Gold was at $1,708.10 an ounce at 0415 GMT, compared with $1,699.10 late Thursday.