Shares fell Monday in Asia as investors remained wary of mounting violence in Ukraine, while awaiting a raft of financial indicators due later in the week, according to Reuters.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index fell 1.2 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.4 percent lower, Reuters reported.
Shares in New Zealand, Taiwan, China, India and Singapore also fell, but South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 percent, according to Reuters.
The United States was preparing to levy fresh sanctions against Russia for Moscow's failure to uphold terms of an agreement with the U.S., the European Union and Ukraine that calls for Moscow to withdraw Russian forces from the border with Ukraine and encourage pro-Russian separatists to turn over buildings they're occupying in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian militants turned to kidnapping, taking dozens hostage, including journalists, pro-Ukraine activists and European military observers, according to Reuters.
"The Ukrainian tensions are once again mounting and the word coming from Capitol Hill and also Europe is that sanctions on Russian officials will be harder, more direct and onerous on President Putin's inner circle; this will disrupt normal trading conditions," Melbourne, Australia-based, IG market strategic Evan Lucas said in a trading note, Reuters reported.
Worried investors have been shifting from riskier assets into traditional havens like bonds, gold and mainstay equities like utilities, sapping markets of their earlier upward momentum but U.S. shares fell sharply Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.9 percent at 16,361.46 and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 off 0.8 percent, according to Reuters.
European shares also fell Friday, as the FTSE dropped 0.3 percent and Germany's DAX lost 1.5 percent, Reuters reported. Oil gained 47 cents to $101.07 electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid concern about the tensions in Ukraine and the potential impact of additional sanctions on Russia's energy exports.
