Stocks in Japan and Hong Kong slipped as investors nervously awaited for the West’s response to Crimea’s vote to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, which has drawn international condemnation.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell another 49.99 points, or 0.4%, to 14,277.63
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 65.54 points, or 0.3%, to 21,473.95
The yen, which money managers typically buy when global political tensions rise, touched 101.15 per U.S. dollar, the strongest the Japanese currency has been since Feb. 5. But the dollar later picked up and was last at ¥101.45, compared with ¥101.35 late Friday in New York.
The euro was at $1.3906 U.S., largely unchanged from $1.3912 U.S. Some analysts expect the West’s threatened sanctions against Russia would mean financial assets to flow into euro-denominated assets.
In commodities, spot gold rose as much as 0.7% in early Asian trade and was last flat at $1,381.60 U.S. an ounce. Nymex natural gas futures added 1.4% to $4.49 U.S. per British thermal unit due to supply concerns. Europe gets around 30% of its gas from Russia.
CHINA
Foreign-exchange markets were also looking at China after the People’s Bank of China said over the weekend that it has decided to widen the yuan’s daily trading band, allowing it to move up or down by 2% from the daily rate set by the central bank.
The Shanghai CSI 300 Index regained 20.20 points, or 1%, to 2,143.04
On Monday, the yuan weakened to 6.1618 to the U.S. dollar, compared with 6.1502 on Friday’s close.
In other markets;
In Taiwan, the Taiex improved 12.47 points, or 0.1%, to 8,700.10
Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 18.42 points, or 0.6%, to 3,092.14
Korea’s Kospi Index recovered 7.63 points, or 0.4%, to 1,927.53
The New Zealand Exchange 50 index gained 8.70 points, or 0.2%, to 5,088.03
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 11.83 points, or 0.2%, to 5,317.57.
