Asia: Stocks mixed following oil price fall

Asian stocks were mixed on Monday amid fears of a supply glut in oil after a third-day of declines in prices.

Crude futures posted a fresh five-year low after Iraq said it will boost exports this month.

Front-month Brent futures were down 1.7% to $55.46 in morning trade, according to the ICE. That was the lowest since May 2009.

Iraq plans to expand crude exports to 3.3m barrels a day in January, Asim Jihad, a spokesman at the Oil Ministry told Bloomberg on Sunday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.57% while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.24% as the yen continued to decline and the country continues to struggle with deflation.

However, analysts at Brewin Dolphin said: "Our central thesis is that the unparalleled cohesion demonstrated between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan, to help stimulate and reflate the Japanese economy, will continue to weaken the yen and lift equity markets."

However, speculation that policymakers will ease monetary policy further drove the Shanghai stock exchange's main benchmark index to a gain of 3.58% on Monday.