At the beginning of the week, investors withdrew from the Asian markets.

The appearance of the Omikron virus variant unsettled the stock exchange traders, as it is still unclear what effects the Corona mutant will have on the economic recovery and the tightening plans of the central banks.

"The news about Omikron makes it clear that central banks and governments must be careful about removing economic support and incentives," said Craig James, chief economist at CommSec.

The Nikkei index, which comprises 225 values, was 0.5 percent lower at 28,610 points.

The broader Topix index fell 0.9 percent and stood at 1967 points.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange was unchanged.

The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzen lost 0.2 percent.

In Asian foreign exchange trading, the dollar gained 0.4 percent to 113.71 yen and was down 0.2 percent to 6.3823 yuan.

In relation to the Swiss currency, it was quoted 0.2 percent higher at 0.9255 francs.

At the same time, the euro fell 0.3 percent to 1.1279 dollars and was barely changed at 1.0441 francs.

The pound sterling stagnated at $ 1.3334.