Asian markets ended mostly lower today. So Japan's Nikkei-225 index fell 0.6 percent; China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.9 percent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 1.3 percent and South Korea's Kospi index slipped 1 percent. But Singapore's Straits Times index ended marginally higher.
 
In Europe, key indices, London's FTSE-100 had shed 0.4 percent; France's CAC-40 had slipped 0.6 percent and Germany's DAX had declined 0.5 percent, in intra-day trade.
 
Global crude oil prices fell over 3 percent on concerns that new pandemic curbs and slow vaccine roll-outs in Europe will hold back economic recovery; while a stronger dollar also weighed.
 
So, Brent crude futures slumped 2 dollars and 20 cents, to 62.42 dollars a barrel.
 
US crude futures declined 2 dollars and 10 cents, to 59.46 dollars a barrel.