Asia's leading stock exchanges started the trading week with large fluctuations.
In Japan, the outlook was bleak. The important Nikkei 225 had plummeted 4.6 percent by lunchtime, while the broader Topix index had fallen 3.3 percent.
On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the situation was more positive. The Hang Seng index had risen 2.1 percent after a couple of hours of trading. The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen were also sharply up, 5.2 and 7.5 percent, respectively.
