In the US tonight, the markets went into reverse with the Dow last down 30 points at 12,432, well below its all-time high of 12,580, hit in morning trade.
The S&P 500 was down 7 points at 1,411 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 17 points at 2,398.
In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning down 174.25 points at 20,239.14, while the Nikkei was recently up 127.84 points at 17,353.67.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.73 from Friday's settlement price to a six-week low of $58.32 a barrel.