Asian stocks trade mixed after bearish close in S&P 500

• Japanese stocks bid, but early gains erased in Hong Kong and Korea.
• The S&P 500 index closed below the key support 50-week EMA on Frida, opening doors for a deeper drop.

Most Asian stocks ticked higher in early trading Monday as investors, but the relief could be short-lived as the S&P 500 futures suffered a bearish close on Friday.

At press time, Japan's Nikkei index is reporting a 0.40 percent gain. Further, stocks in New Zealand and Australia are up 0.1 percent and 1.10 percent, respectively.

However, the Shanghai Composite has dropped 1.22 percent in early trade. Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi is down 0.30 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng has erased early gains to trade largely unchanged on the day.

The minor uptick seen in the Japanese and Oceania stocks could turn out to be a dead cat bounce as the S&P 500 futures closed below the all-important 50-week exponential moving average (EMA) support on Friday. The bearish daily close may embolden the bears to push the index down to the February low of $2,532.