The dollar climbed against the yen and the pound but was down against the euro, as investors followed US President Donald Trump's meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Oil prices fell more than two dollars per barrel.
"It's been a slow start to the trading week in Europe after a similarly mixed Asia session saw Chinese" growth slow, noted Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
US markets were also mixed, with the Dow holding flat and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both slipping, despite a rise in retail spending in June and a jump in profits at Bank of America.
After a positive end to last week's roller-coaster ride for equities, investors shifted back into defensive mode, with concerns about the impact of tit-for-tat tariffs on the world's top two economies, China and the United States.
"Investors appear to be tying themselves up in knots trying to establish what is likely to happen next in the context of the ongoing trade spats, with China and the EU," added Hewson.
Beijing said Chinese economic growth in April-June came in at 6.7 percent, in line with forecasts in an AFP survey and better than the government's annual target -- but a shade down from the previous three months' 6.8 percent.
While the reading refers to the three months before US levies on billions of dollars of Chinese goods were imposed, observers had already said the country was likely to struggle with a trade face-off as leaders battle a debt mountain.
News Friday that China's trade surplus with the United States, a major cause of Trump's anger, hit a record in June has further fuelled tensions.
Shanghai's main stocks index closed down 0.6 percent on Monday and Sydney eased 0.4 percent -- but Hong Kong ended slightly up after a late rally.
Singapore, Seoul, Wellington and Taipei were lower while Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.
In Europe, London and Paris dropped while Frankfurt rose.
Shares in Deutsche Bank jumped 7.3 percent to 10.31 euros after Germany's biggest lender far outstripped analysts' estimates of its earnings in the second quarter.
Deutsche is looking to project a refreshed, confident image to investors under new chief executive Christian Sewing, who replaced crisis firefighter John Cryan as head of the bank in April.
On currency markets meanwhile, the pound dipped against the dollar after fluctuating on Friday in reaction to an interview in which Trump hit out at Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit and appeared to dampen hopes of a future UK-US trade deal.