Asia shares and oil slip; yen sinks as BOJ stays super-loose

Asia shares and oil slip; yen sinks as BOJ stays super-loose

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SYDNEY: Asian shares and oil prices both slid on Monday as coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai looked set to hit global activity, while the yen extended its stomach-churning descent as the Bank of Japan acted to keep local yields near zero.

China's financial hub of 26 million people told all firms to suspend manufacturing or have people work remotely in a two-stage lockdown over nine days.

The spread of restrictions in the world's biggest oil importer saw Brent skid $3.26 to $117.39, while U.S. crude fell $3.37 to $110.53.

Risk sentiment was helped by hopes of progress in Russian-Ukranian peace talks to be held in Turkey this week after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a deal.

Early action on Monday was muted with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off 0.8%. The index is down 3% for the month but well above recent lows.

Chinese blue chips shed 0.8%. Japan's Nikkei lost 0.4%, but is still almost 6% firmer for the month as a sinking yen promised to boost exporter earnings.

S&P 500 stock futures eased 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures slipped 0.4%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures both held steady for the moment.

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