Stocks in Asia posted steep losses on Monday, with particularly large falls on the exchanges in Tokyo and Seoul, linked to a sharp rise in oil prices.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 6.9 percent at midday, while the Topix was down 5.1 percent. Conditions were even worse in Seoul, South Korea, where the Kospi was down 7.8 percent.
Among individual companies, technology giant Samsung was down 9.8 percent. In Tokyo, investment company SoftBank was one of the day's losers, with a decline of 11.3 percent.
China also saw declines on Monday. The Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 1.1 percent and Shenzhen's exchange was down 2.1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 2.6 percent.
WTI and Brent crude rose more than 20 percent on Monday amid the Iran conflict.
