Crude prices softened slightly to under $105 a barrel, but political unrest continued to shake the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as well as the country's oil fields. In currencies, the dollar was lower against the yen and the euro.
Markets around the world have been rattled by the uprising in Libya, which produces nearly 2 percent of the world's oil and delivers most of it to Europe. As rebels try to oust Gadhafi after 41 years in power, the country appears heading toward civil war — which could last weeks, or even months.
If the unrest in Libya spreads to other oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, that could further lift already high oil prices. A sustained rise in oil prices could hurt the global economic recovery by raising manufacturing and transportation costs.
The rising markets are a symptom of volatility rather than a display of investor confidence, according to David Cohen, an economist with Action Economics in Singapore.
"We've had some pretty sharp swings day to day recently, depending on what the latest headlines are," Cohen said. "The oil price came off a little, that might be reassuring. I think the volatility will continue. We clearly are nervous about oil prices right now."
Japan's benchmark 225 stock average added 0.3 percent to 10,530.64. Among gainers was Hitachi Ltd., which jumped 2.2 percent after hard drive maker Western Digital Corp. announced it would buy Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for $4.3 billion.
But fears that spiraling oil prices could halt the global economic recovery sent some leading export stocks lower. Sharp Corp. was down 1.3 percent, Sony Corp. lost 1 percent, as did Toshiba Corp.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 23,367.02 as investors snapped up oil-related stocks pulled higher by elevated crude prices. Among most actively traded shares was PetroChina Co. Ltd., which rose 1.5 percent. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the nation's largest oil refiner, was up 1.3 percent.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.7 percent to 1,993.55 as investors cast aside fears and shopped for bargains ahead of a meeting of the Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee Thursday.
The BOK has raised its benchmark interest rate three times since July of last year amid strong economic growth and inflation concerns. Worries over South Korea's inflation rate could push the central bank to further hike its benchmark interest rate.
Inflation spurred by rising food and energy costs have raised alarm bells in many countries and forced monetary authorities to increase borrowing costs to try and damp price pressures. Central banks that have raised rates this year include those in Brazil, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Hungary.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.2 percent to 4,808.10. Shares in Singapore and Taiwan were slightly higher, but those in New Zealand and Malaysia slipped. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4 percent to 2,984.14.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.85 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 12,090.03 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 11.02 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,310.13, and the Nasdaq fell 39.04 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,745.63.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 64 cents at $104.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.02 to settle at $105.44 a barrel on Monday. Earlier in the day, the price almost hit $107 per barrel earlier in electronic trading, the highest level since Sept. 26, 2008.
In currencies, the dollar fetched 82.22 yen in Tokyo, down from 82.27 yen in New York late Monday. The euro rose to $1.3985 from $1.3963 in New York late Monday.
