Asian Shares Mostly Lower

Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.9% in afternoon trading to 26,839.51. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.5% to 7,206.90. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.1% to 2,673.82. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.2% to 24,267.64, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1% to 3,431.80.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 51 cents to $94.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It climbed 2.5%, while natural gas prices jumped 6.4% on Monday. Russia is a major energy producer and military action that disrupts supplies could jolt markets and global industries. Brent crude, the international pricing standard, fell 41 cents to $96.07 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar sank to 115.33 Japanese yen from 115.55 yen. The euro cost $1.1320, up from $1.1306.