The descent of the Dax continues unabated at the beginning of the new week.

In view of the escalating war in Ukraine and sharply rising oil prices, the leading German index fell by almost 5 percent to 12,582 points in the first few minutes of trading on Monday.

It thus reached its lowest level since November 2020.

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine a week and a half ago, the Dax price losses have already totaled 14 percent or more than 2000 points.

The MDax for medium-sized German companies fell 3.4 percent to 27,892 points on Monday morning.

The Eurozone leading index Euro Stoxx 50 lost 3.2 percent to 3443 points.

Investors have also fled Asian equities for fear of stagflation, the market said.

The speculation on a stagnating economy with simultaneously rising inflation was fueled by rising commodity prices.

As a result, the Japanese Nikkei index fell by almost 3 percent on Monday and closed at 25,221 points, its lowest level in almost a year and a half.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange lost 2.2 percent to 3373 points.

Rising commodity prices are fueling concerns

Rising commodity prices are fueling fears of a recession among Dax investors.

With an embargo on Russian energy supplies, as is currently being discussed, consumers would have to deal with permanently higher prices, said analyst Jochen Stanzl from the online broker CMC Markets.

This would hit consumption and economic growth hard.

"A recession in Germany with high inflation is becoming more and more of a baseline scenario."

Against this background, the European natural gas future rose by 21 percent to a record high of EUR 248.50 per megawatt hour.

The price of Brent crude oil from the North Sea jumped by almost 20 percent and, at around 140 dollars per barrel (around 159 liters), was as high as it was 13.5 years ago.

Euro remains under pressure

The euro also remained under pressure on Monday.

In the morning, the common currency fell to 1.0823 US dollars, the lowest level since May 2020. The European Central Bank (ECB) had set the reference rate significantly higher on Friday afternoon at 1.0929 dollars.

The Russian ruble also fell on Monday, falling further against the dollar in offshore trading outside of Russia.

Currencies that are perceived as safe, such as the US dollar, the Japanese yen or the Swiss franc, were sought.

In return, for the first time since 2015, less than one Swiss franc had to be paid for one euro.

The price movements were triggered by the poor mood on the financial markets, a consequence of the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine.

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the United States is also examining an import ban for Russian oil.

Washington is consulting with European allies about such a sanction.

According to government circles, Japan is also considering such a step, as reported by the Japanese news agency Kyodo.