Asia-Pacific stocks mixed

SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (CNBC): Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Friday, as investors in the region continued to assess the risk from simmering tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 0.41 per cent to close at 27,122.07, trimming losses after declining more than 1 per cent earlier, while the Topix index dipped 0.36 per cent to 1,924.31. Over in South Korea, the Kospi ended the trading day little changed at 2,744.52.

Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher as the Shanghai composite gained 0.66 per cent to 3,490.76 and the Shenzhen component climbed 0.274 per cent to 13,459.68. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped about 1 per cent, as of its final hour of trading.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.02 per cent lower at 7,221.70.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.45 per cent lower.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis is at a pivotal moment, with Kyiv accusing pro-Moscow separatists of attacking a village near the border.

Fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine have driven investors toward safe-haven assets such as gold. Spot gold briefly crossed $1,900 an ounce earlier before losing some of those gains, last sitting at $1,892 per ounce.

The Japanese yen, also commonly seen as a safe-haven asset, traded at 115.15 per dollar - still stronger than levels above 115.6 seen against the greenback earlier this week.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 622.24 points to 34,312.03. The S&P 500 shed 2.12 per cent to 4,380.26 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.88 per cent to 13,716.72.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.794 after declining from above 96 earlier this week.

The Australian dollar was at $0.7209, above an earlier low of $0.7175.

Meanwhile, European markets retreated once again on Friday, with global sentiment hanging in the balance as the Ukraine-Russia crisis reaches a pivotal moment.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.4 per cent by early afternoon, with travel and leisure stocks shedding 1.6 per cent to lead losses while mining stocks bucked the downward trend to add 0.8 per cent.