Shares in Europe and Asia fell on Monday in trade thinned by holidays in a number of financial centres, hit by slumping oil prices and concerns over Chinese growth and finances - two of the year’s major factors.

Prices of both Brent and US crude fell 1.8%, reversing a brief rebound that helped shares in the Middle East over the weekend, while Chinese stocks fell almost 3% after a weak batch of industrial profits data.

China’s two main share indexes fell 2.6% and 2.9% respectively, with banking shares leading the fall. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1%

Japan’s Nikkei, however, rose 0.6%, with soft domestic production and retail data hinting at more pressure on the Bank of Japan to take further steps to stimulate growth.

Brent crude traded at $37.26 a barrel, just over a cent above 11-year low hit before Christmas.

The fall in oil prices has depressed inflation globally, in turn reducing long-term expectations for price growth that drive longer-dated bond yields. That tends to draw investors back into bond markets at the expense of stocks and pushes up the price of longer-dated government bonds.