Asian shares hit by news of Ukraine air tragedy

Asian markets were mostly lower on Friday after a Malaysia Airlines jet came down in battle-wracked Ukraine, sparking geopolitical tensions and sending Wall Street tumbling as the US claimed the aircraft had been shot down. Tokyo fell 1.00 per cent, or 154.55 points, to 15,215.71, Seoul eased 0.07 per cent or 1.48 points to 2,019.42, while in the afternoon Hong Kong lost 0.28 per cent, or 66.08 points, to 23,454.7 However, Sydney ended slightly higher, adding 0.17 per cent to close at 5,531.6 while Shanghai gained 0.17 per cent, or 3.48 points, to 2,059.07. Shares in Malaysia Airlines fell by as much as 17.8 per cent on the news, which comes months after Flight MH370 went missing with hundreds on board in a remote part of the Indian Ocean. In afternoon trade shares were 11 per cent lower. Friday's sell-off affected other airlines, with Japan's JAL losing 0.7 per cent and ANA slipping 0.8 per cent. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific lost 0.7 per cent in the afternoon. Air New Zealand shed 2.5 per cent. On Wall Street, the Dow fell 0.94 per cent from Wednesday's record close, while the S&P 500 sank 1.18 per cent and the Nasdaq was down 1.41 per cent. The dollar took a hit Thursday in New York. On Friday in Asia it recovered a touch to sit at 101.39 yen, a tad up from 101.17 yen in New York but still well down from 101.51 yen in Tokyo earlier Thursday. The yen's initial advances against the euro also subsided. The single currency bought 137.23 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade after sinking to 136.72 yen earlier in the day. The euro was at $1.3533 against $1.3525. The dollar bought 3.196 by Malaysian ringgit, up from 3.175 ringgit Thursday. On oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was up 53 cents in morning trade at $103.72 a barrel and Brent crude for September advanced 50 cents to $108.39. Gold, also a safe haven, jumped to $1,312.33 by 0840 GMT compared with $1,302.90 late Thursday. Taipei was marginally lower, losing 7.27 points to 9,400.97. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 0.8 per cent to Tw$123.5 while smartphone maker HTC rose on 2.94 per cent to Tw$140.0. Wellington edged down 3.46 points to 5,108.9. Manila closed 0.21 per cent lower, giving up 14.29 points to 6,853.07. Philippine Long Distance Telephone eased 0.07 per cent to 3,028.00 pesos, SM Investments dropped 1.09 per cent to 774.00 pesos and SM Prime Holdings ended 1.63 per cent down at 15.74 pesos, according to AFP.