In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed the morning down 36.99 points at 20,618.21, while the Nikkei was recently down 182.67 points at 17,224.19.
New York Mercantile Exchange's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was up 48 cents at $59.36 a barrel from $58.88 in late trading in the US overnight.