Asian markets were mixed on Monday as last week's fiscal deal-fuelled rally led to profit-taking, while dealers took heart from healthy job creation figures out of the United States.

The yen rose slightly against the dollar and euro, although it remains under pressure on expectations the Japanese central bank will further loosen monetary policy.

Tokyo -- which on Friday hit its highest level since before the quake-tsunami of March 2011 -- slipped 0.20 percent by the break, while Sydney shed 0.11 percent and Seoul was off 0.60 percent.However, Hong Kong edged up 0.11 percent and Shanghai added 0.18 percent.

Traders chose to cash in after shares jumped last week in the wake of the deal in Washington to avert the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts that economists had warned would tip the United States into recession.

Providing some buying support was news out of Washington on Friday showing the world's biggest economy added 155,000 jobs in December. While the figures is not huge and was in line with expectations it does show there is some confidence despite recent uncertainty over the fiscal cliff wrangling.

In addition the latest ISM index on the service sector showed unexpected growth in December, the fastest in 10 months, led by new orders and employment.

 Wall Street closed higher on the news. The Dow finished up 0.33 percent and the Nasdaq was flat, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.49 percent to its highest close since December 31, 2007.