(CNN) -- Japan's Nikkei Exchange jumped more than 5 percent in early trading Tuesday after a seesaw day on Wall Street that saw little change on the U.S. markets.
Seoul's KOSPI was up less than a percentage point in early trading after closing up 1.4 percent the day before, but many other markets were down slightly
Australia's All Ordinaries dropped less than a percentage point in early trading. Taipei's Taiwan Weighted was down a percentage point, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was also down slightly, less than a percentage point. In Singapore, the Straits Times index was down 2 percent.
Tokyo markets were closed Monday, but other Asian and Pacific stocks saw modest gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost a little more than 5 points in Monday trading, while the Nasdaq gained about the same. The S&P 500 was down 2.5 points.
Stocks rallied last week, finding some momentum at the end of one of the worst months in Wall Street history. For the week, the Dow was up 10.1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 9.5 percent and the Nasdaq had gained 9.8 percent.
The depth of last month's selloff has left some investors betting that a bottom has been put in place, said John Forelli, portfolio manager at Independence Investments. Yet, few people are ready to act on those bets yet, he said.
Also Monday, European markets erased early losses to end higher, and the dollar fell against the euro while gaining against the yen.
COMEX gold for January delivery climbed $8.60 to settle at $727.50 an ounce.
U.S. light crude oil for December delivery fell $3.90 to settle at $63.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gasoline prices fell another 2.1 cents overnight, to a national average of $2.415 a gallon, according to a survey of credit-card activity by motorist group AAA. It was the 47th consecutive day that prices have decreased. During that time, prices have fallen by $1.44 a gallon, or 37.5 percent.
The credit market continued to improve, with Libor, the overnight bank-to-bank lending rate, falling to 0.39 percent from 0.41 percent Friday, according to Bloomberg.com. The 3-month Libor fell to 2.86 percent from 3.03 percent Friday.
