The leading Asian stock exchanges began the trading week largely on minus.
The only exception was the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo, which had climbed 0.2 percent by lunchtime. The broader Topix index, however, had fallen by 0.1 percent.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong also fell by 1.5 percent. In Shanghai and Shenzhen, the composite index fell by 0.6 and 1.4 percent, respectively.
