Middle East fears erode Asian shares

Most Asian shares were in retreat yesterday, although oil-related stocks rose with markets keeping nervous watch as political unrest in the Middle East spread to Opec member Libya.

Oil prices bounded to over US$87 ($114) a barrel amid investor concern that violent protests in Libya could disrupt crude supplies. In currencies, the US dollar weakened against the yen but was up against the euro.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was flat at 10,846.73 as the index pared robust gains made last week.

Blue-chip manufacturers such as Honda and Toshiba were down, each by about 1 per cent. But Inpex, Japan's largest energy explorer, gained 1.7 per cent - in line with higher oil prices and investors leaning towards commodities over equities during times of uncertainty.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.4 per cent to 23,508.62. Again, however, oil companies were on the rise. SinOpec, Asia's biggest oil refiner by volume, rose 0.2 per cent. State-owned oil company CNOOC rose 1.6 per cent and PetroChina, China's biggest oil and gas producer, was up 0.4 per cent.

Benchmarks in Taiwan and Singapore also retreated, while China's benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1 per cent.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.5 per cent to 2002.84 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.8 per cent to 4895.40.

In currencies, the US dollar slipped to 83.11 from 83.16 late on Friday. The euro rose to US$1.3673 from US$1.3690.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up US$1.03 at US$87.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent crude for April delivery gained US$1.11 to US$103.63 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

- AP