The trading week in Asia began with sour faces following Friday's weak job figures from the USA, which fueled fears of a recession in the world's largest economy.
The Tokyo stock exchange fell sharply at the opening but had recovered somewhat a few hours later. At lunchtime, the key Nikkei 225 index was down 2.1 percent, while the broader Topix index lost 2.0.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 1.9 percent, while Seoul's Kospi index contracted by 0.8.
Neither did the composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen report any cheerful tones as they fell by 0.9 and 0.5 percent, respectively.
