Asian shares stumbled on Monday and oil prices slipped as fears of a second wave of Covid-19 infections in Beijing sent investors scurrying for safe-havens while underwhelming data from China further weighed on sentiment.

US financier MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3% with Australian shares off 0.1% and South Korea easing 0.3%. Japan's Nikkei faltered 0.7%.