SINGAPORE – Shares in the Asia-Pacific were largely lower in Friday’s trading, as simmering tensions between Ukraine and Russia continued to interest investors.
Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 0.23%, paring losses after falling more than 1% earlier, while the Topix index fell 0.21%. In Korea, Kospi down 0.21%.
Mainland China stocks mixed as Shanghai composite hovering on the flat road and Shenzhen Ingredients down 0.364 %. From Hong Kong Hang Seng Index down 0.48%.
In Australia, S&P / ASX 200 slip 0.55%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan traded 0.39% lower.
Happenning The Russia-Ukraine crisis is at a pivotal momentwith Kyiv accuses pro-Moscow separatists of attacking a village near the border.
Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine have driven investors towards safe-haven assets like gold. Spot gold last at $1,890.13 an ounce, after rising earlier in the week from below $1,860.
The Japanese yenalso commonly considered a safe-haven asset, was trading at 115.16 per dollar – still stronger above 115.6 against the greenback earlier in the week.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 622.24 points to 34,312.03. The S&P 500 fell 2.12% to 4,380.26 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.88% to 13,716.72.
Currency and oil
The US Dollar Indextracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, at 95.807 after falling from above 96 earlier this week.
The Australian dollar at $0.7205, above the previous low of $0.7175.
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, by international standards Brent Crude Oil Futures down 0.56% to $92.45 per barrel. US crude oil futures down 0.75% to $91.07 per barrel.
