Asian Shares Slip as Oil Prices Fall

Investors in Asia were back to selling Tuesday, as falling oil prices delivered a further blow to the region's energy stocks.

In Hong Kong, the energy sector was down 3.3%, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 1.6%.

The Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.8%, with Tokyo-listed oil developer Inpex Corp. was down 3.5%,

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.2% and South Korea's Kospi was down 1.4%. Markets in Australia and India are closed for holidays.

The same concerns that have haunted stocks this year remain: oil prices are trading near multiyear lows and investors are worried about a slowing China and plans by the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. But increasingly driving the action is the further tumble in oil. Brent crude oil gave up gains earlier in Asia to trade down 1.4% at $30.10 a barrel. In the U.S., prices had slid 5.7% on Monday to $30.34 a barrel.

In the U.S., the Dow was down 1.3% overnight.

In Asia, Japan shares were getting pressure from the Japanese yen, which strengthened by 0.2% to ¥ 118.09 per U.S. dollar. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. was down 3.9% at ¥ 603.0.

South Korean shares fell after data showed that the country's economy slowed sharply in the final quarter of 2015. Gross domestic product expanded at a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in the October-December period from the previous quarter, after a revised 1.3% gain in the third quarter.

The latest growth figure was exactly in line with the median forecast of a 0.6% expansion in the fourth quarter, according to a Wall Street Journal survey.

Gold, a safe haven, was up 0.4% at $1,110 a troy ounce early in Asia.

Kwanwoo Jun contributed to this story.

Write to Chao Deng at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 25, 2016 21:15 ET (02:15 GMT)

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