Asian shares mixed, focus on response to Ukraine crisis

Asian markets were mixed Tuesday after the previous day's global sell-off, but investors remain on edge as they await world leaders' response to Russia's decision to send forces into Ukraine. While the international community anxiously watches events in Eastern Europe, analysts said the fact that the crisis had not worsened had provided a buying opportunity. The dollar and euro also clawed back some of Monday's losses against the yen as a certain degree of confidence returned to the market, while oil prices fell back after hitting multi-month highs. Tokyo rose 0.47 percent, or 69.25 points, to 14,721.48, Sydney added 0.29 percent, or 15.9 points, to close at 5,400.2 and Hong Kong ended 0.70 percent higher, adding 156.96 points to 22,657.63 Shanghai shed 0.18 percent, or 3.76 points, to 2,071.47 after rallying almost one percent on Monday. And Seoul gave up 0.54 percent, or 10.58 points, to 1,954.11. "The immediate and likely largest impact from the risk-off sentiment due to the crisis in the Ukraine may have already passed," Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires. World shares tumbled on Monday after Russia's parliament voted to allow President Vladimir Putin to send troops into Crimea, a mainly Russian-speaking peninsula in the southeast of the ex-Soviet state, according to AFP.