Asian markets open lower

The Asian markets have opened the week in the red with Seoul Composite, Hang Seng and Nikkei leading the losses down between 1.5- 2%

Hong Kong shares fell sharply as investors began the week with an across-the-board sell-off, led by Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. and aided by weakness in resource and property stocks after Friday's losses on Wall Street. The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.6% to 22,838.

Japanese stocks tumbled due to wak cues from Wall Street and concerns about European sovereign debt and other issues weighing on banks. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.4% to 9,475 in the early going.

The other noteable losers are Seoul Composite down nearly 2% at 2,073 followed by Shanghai Composite, Jakarta Composite and Taiwan Weighted losing 1% each.