Asia stocks skid on Ukraine fears, oil at 7-year peak

Asia stocks skid on Ukraine fears, oil at 7-year peak

SYDNEY: Asian shares sagged on Monday as warnings that Russia could invade Ukraine at any time sent oil prices to seven-year peaks, boosted bonds and belted the euro.

The United States on Sunday said Russia might create a surprise pretext for an attack, as it reaffirmed a pledge to defend "every inch" of NATO territory.

The cautious mood saw MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan drop 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei lost 2.6%, while Chinese blue chips fell 0.6%.

S&P 500 futures ESc1 were down a fraction and Nasdaq futures eased 0.1% after steep losses on Friday. EUROSTOXX 50 futures shed 1.8% and FTSE futures 0.7%.

Markets have been in convulsions since an alarmingly high U.S. inflation reading sparked speculation the Federal Reserve might raise rates by a full 50 basis points in March.

There was even chatter about an emergency inter-meeting hike. That was spurred in part by the timing of a closed Fed Board meeting for Monday, though the event seemed routine.

The talk was tamped down when the Fed released an unchanged bond buying schedule for the coming month, since the central bank has said it would only hike after its buying had ceased.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly also played down the