MELBOURNE, Victoria, Australia - Stocks in Asia on Monday were mostly lower, following substantial falls on Wall Street on Friday.

Trading was thin on the Asian Pacific markets, with the Seoul stock exchange closed for its National Day, and New South Wales in Australia closed, although the ASX remained open with the main business being done out of Melbourne. China's Shanghai Composite was also out of action as China began Golden Week.

The Australian All Ordinaries dropped 22.30 points or 0.33 percent to close at 6,656.40 Monday. The market was nervous ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia monthly meeting on Tuesday, at which the central bank is expected to hike interest rates another 50 basis points.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 plummeted 106.26 points or 0.96 percent to 10,959.45.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng, ahead of a public holiday Tuesday, lost 143.32 points or 0.83 percent to 17,079.51.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225, going against the trend, surged 278.58 points or 1.07 percent to close Monday at 26,215.79.

The U.S. dollar was under pressure from most quarters on Monday, with the British pound surging to 1.1234 by the Melbourne close.

The euro rose to 0.9827. The Japanese yen was little changed at 144.78. The Swiss franc eased to 0.9842.

The Canadian dollar edged up to 1.3735. The Australian and New Zealand dollars rose strongly to 0.6458 and 0.5661, respectively.