It was, with the exception of Hong Kong, down for leading indexes on Asian stock exchanges in the initial trading towards lunchtime on the first day of the stock exchange week.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was down 1.2 percent and the broader Topix down around 1 percent.
In Shanghai and Shenzhen, the composite indexes were down 0.7 percent and unchanged, respectively.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index, on the other hand, showed an increase of 0.7 percent.
