World stocks drifted Monday as investors largely shrugged off a weekend vote in which Crimeans opted to leave Ukraine and join Russia, AP reported. Safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen got a boost after results showed an overwhelming number of voters in the Ukrainian region approved splitting off and joining Russia in Sunday's vote. The U.S. has threatened Russia with sanctions should it annex Crimea. In early European trading, Germany's DAX edged up less than 0.1 percent to 9,062.63 while France's CAC 40 added 0.2 percent to 4,224.13. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.1 percent to 6,537.59. U.S. stocks were poised to rise. Dow futures and S&P 500 futures were both up 0.7 percent. Asian markets ended the day mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to close at 14,277.67 as the yen gained. The dollar, which has lost about 1.4 percent against the yen in the past week, was trading at 101.78 yen compared with 101.30 yen late Friday. A stronger yen makes goods from Japanese exporters such as Sony and Canon pricier overseas. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.4 percent to 1,927.53 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.3 percent to 21,473.95. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 5,317.60. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 1 percent to 2,023.67 after officials announced on the weekend that exchange rate controls would be modestly eased. It was the latest step in an eventual plan to let the yuan float freely. The dollar rose to 6.1773 yuan, up 0.4 percent from 6.1531 late Friday, and is at the highest since the end of June last year, according to FactSet data. In currencies The euro dipped to $1.3893 from $1.3898. Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 20 cents to $98.69 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 69 cents to settle at $98.20 on Friday.
