Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops 2% as investors continue watching Ukraine crisis

In Monday morning trade, shares in Asia-Pacific fell as investors continued to watch the situation in Ukraine.

The Topix index in Japan fell 1.8% in early trade. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.64%.

The S&P/ASX 200 fell in morning trade.

The broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down.

Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are likely to affect investor sentiment. The President of the United States, Joe Biden, was going to return to Delaware on Sunday after a meeting on the crisis in Ukraine.

China is set to announce its latest benchmark lending rate on Monday, with the latest one-year loan prime rate expected to be out at 9:15 a.m. HK/SIN. All 24 financial institutions predicted in a poll that there would be no change in the one-year LPR.

Markets in the US are closed on Monday for a holiday.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of peers, was at 96.109, up from below 96.

The Japanese currency traded at 114.92 per dollar, up from 114.8 last week. The Australian dollar fell from above $0.72 late last week.