Seoul: A currency trader talks on the phone at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Thursday as anxiety about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine rose. AP/PTI
Beijing, February 24 (AP) Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Thursday as anxiety about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine rose.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney sank. Oil prices advanced on unease about possible disruption of Russian supplies.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.8% to an eight-month low after the Kremlin said rebels in eastern Ukraine asked for military assistance. Moscow has sent soldiers to some rebel-held areas after recognizing them as independent.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Moscow appeared to be poised to invade. Western governments have imposed sanctions on Russian banks, officials and business leaders. They have more severe options in reserve.
Geopolitical risks remain at the forefront, weighing on risk assets, said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,482.95 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.7% to 26,255.65. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 1.6% to 23,276.14.
Asian economies face lower risks than Europe does from a possible Russian attack and Western sanctions, forecasters say. But they say economies that need imported oil might be hit by higher prices if supplies from Russia, the third-largest producer, are disrupted.
The Kospi in Seoul lost 1.7% to 2,674.41 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 fell 2.7% to 7,009.30.
New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta declined while Bangkok gained.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell to 4,225.50. That put it 11.9% below its Jan 3 record, solidly in a correction, or a decline of more than 10% from its latest peak.
More than 85% of stocks in the S&P 500 fell. Tech companies weighing down the index most.
The Nasdaq, dominated by technology stocks, lost 2.6% to 13,037.49, led by steep losses in Apple and Microsoft. That put the index 18.8% below its November 2021 high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4% to 33,131.76.
Investors already were uneasy about the possible impact of the Federal Reserve's plans to try to cool inflation by withdrawing ultra-low interest rates and other stimulus that boosted share prices.
Since the start of the year, Facebook parent Meta is down 41.4%, Tesla is off 36.3% and Microsoft is down 16.3%, while Apple and Google's parent Alphabet are both down 12.9%.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude rose 1.46 to 93.56 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to 92.10 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, advanced 1.36 to 95.41 per barrel in London. It lost 20 cents to 94.05 the previous session.
The dollar gained to 115.09 yen from Wednesday's 114.98 yen. The euro fell to 1.1287 from 1.1306.
