SYDNEY, NSW, Australia-stocks in Asia fell sharply on Monday. The Australian market was the only beacon of light, where the All Ordinaries made a gain of 10.30 points or 0.26 percent to close Monday at 7,535. The S&P NZX 50 in New Zealand fell 223.64 points or 1.84 percent to 11,950 across the Tasman. The Nikkei 225 shed 616.49 points or 2.23 percent in Tokyo, the biggest damage was done in Tokyo. The Kospi Composite in Seoul, South Korea lost 41.78 points or 1.52 percent to 2,705. In the final half hour of trading, China's Shanghai Composite was down 42 points, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was off 350 points in late trade.
The U.S. dollar remained buoyed by the jitters over a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia on foreign exchange markets during the Asian trading zone.
The euro was around 1.1349 for most of the day. The Japanese yen was a bit lower at 115.44, as was the Swiss franc at 0.9256.
The Australian dollar was in a tight range around 0.7121.