Asian shares and the euro fell on Monday as a surge in Spanish government bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis and undermined investor appetite for riskier assets.
A firmer dollar on the back of European deficit woes, and worries about slowing demand from China, also weighed on a broad range of commodities from precious metals and copper to oil.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8%, dragged lower by the materials sector, which underperformed other sub-indexes with the broad drop in commodities prices.
Japan's Nikkei average dropped as much as 1.6%.
Spain's government bond yields jumped on Friday and the cost of insuring its debt against default hit an all-time peak as record borrowing by its banks from the European Central Bank highlighted fears about the country's finances.
The banking sector led European and US. shares down on Friday, with US indexes posting their biggest two-week%age drops since late November.
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Spain faces a test of investor confidence this week with an auction of two- and 10-year bonds on Thursday.
"Market focus is firmly back on the EUR," Barclays Capital analysts said in a research note. "Concerns about Spain have lingered and the market may be responding to any perceived lack of support for the periphery."
The euro slipped 0.5% to $1.3015, after hitting a one-month low of $1.3009 on Monday. The dollar index, measured against major currencies, rose 0.3%.
The dollar's strength pushed precious metals lower, with spot gold down 0.5% to $1,650 an ounce, extending Friday's 1% loss, while spot platinum slid more than 2% to $1,559 an ounce, its lowest since January 25.
Industrial commodities also took a beating, with Brent crude oil shedding more than a dollar to a low of $120.06 a barrel, and Shanghai copper falling more than 2% to a three-month low of 56,700 yuan per tonne.
China worry overdone?
Investor sentiment has also been hurt by worries about slackening demand from China, the world's second largest economy, after data showing a slowdown in private domestic demand, retail sales and fixed asset investment and a sharp drop in property and home sales, which weigh on construction demand.
But most analysts say the data remains consistent with a "soft landing" scenario for the Chinese economy.
"Worries among international investors appear unjustified, as it would be easy for the government to re-accelerate growth if it chose to do so," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist, Asia ex-Japan, at Credit Agricole CIB.
"At the same time, policymakers should not delay action given mounting signs of demand weakening and downside risks, especially from housing and exports," he said.
A move by China on Saturday to double the size of the yuan's trading band against the dollar was also seen by investors as a strong signal that Beijing is comfortable with economic growth and believes it has avoided a hard landing.