Stocks in Asia fell sharply early Monday after major oil producers failed to reach an agreement to curtail production in Doha over the weekend.

The Nikkei was down 3.2%, South Korea's Kospi was off 0.6% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7%. Energy stocks in Australia were off 3.4%.

The losses came as oil prices opened sharply lower in early Asian trading hours. Over the weekend, talks between oil producers collapsed when Saudi Arabia reasserted a demand that Iran also agree to cap its oil production. Brent crude oil was last down 5.1% at $40.88 a barrel.

Commodity producers BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Ltd., and Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd. were off 3%, 1.3% and 2% respectively. Japan-listed oil producer Inpex Corp. plunged 7.3%.

In currencies, the Australian dollar fell by more than 1% against the U.S. dollar, as worries grew that the country would take a hit to its commodity-heavy exports.

The Japanese yen, considered a safe haven, strengthened, and was last up 0.6% against the U.S. dollar. Gold prices, also bought up during market turmoil, rose 0.4%.

Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 17, 2016 21:55 ET (01:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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