Europe seen higher; Greece in spotlight

European equities are expected to open flat to higher on Monday as investors watch a meeting between the leaders of Greece and Germany amid rising tensions over Greece's bailout program.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. The meeting comes at a time of rising tensions and heated exchanges between Greece and its euro zone neighbors and creditors, particularly Germany. A press conference with the two leaders is expected at 17:00 GMT.

At a summit of European Union leaders on Friday, Tsipras had assured EU creditors at late-night crisis talks that his leftist-led coalition would soon present a full set of economic reforms in order to unlock cash to stave off bankruptcy.

In Asia, equity markets in Tokyo and Shanghai outperformed the region to scale fresh multi-year highs early Monday, drawing strength from a strong finish on Wall Street last week.

Investors in the region are focused on the news that Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister and founding father of Singapore, passed away at age 91 on Sunday, according to a statement from the prime minister's office.

In other news, U.S. crude futures fell on Monday as Saudi Arabia's oil minister said on Sunday that OPEC will not take sole responsibility for propping up oil prices, Reuters reported. Ali al-Naimi signaled the world's top petroleum exporter was determined to ride out a market slump that has roughly halved prices since last June.

In political news in Europe, former President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party and their allies won the first round of French local elections on Sunday, denying Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front (FN) first place, Reuters reported Sunday.

In Spain, meanwhile, the Socialist party won a regional election in Andalusia on Sunday, with the People's Party (PP) coming second and leftist upstart Podemos taking the third place, according to a Reuters report.

Earnings come from the National Bank of Greece Monday and economic data include flash euro area consumer confidence data for March. Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, also releases its monthly report.