Asian stocks fall sharply

Tokyo A possible Russian attack on Ukraine weighs on East Asia equities. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index fell particularly sharply in morning trading by 2.6 percent to 26,970 points. On Friday, due to a holiday, investors were unable to respond to the US government’s warning that an attack by Russia could begin at any time.

In South Korea, too, the Kospi stock index fell again by more than two percent. Around noon it was still trading 1.6 percent below Friday’s closing price at 2703 points. It is now almost four percent below the high of the previous week.

Even Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost more than one percent again. The only exception among the larger markets in the region was Singapore: The Straits Times Index there even turned slightly positive after initial losses and was traded 0.02 percent higher than on Friday at 3429.9 points at 11:05 a.m. local time.