Asian stocks drift in wake of Manchester blast

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press</span>
Published Tuesday, May 23, 2017 12:31AM EDT

TOKYO - Asian shares were mostly higher in early trading Tuesday after police said they were treating an explosion in Manchester, England, that killed at least 19 people as a terror attack. Oil prices fell back after Monday's rally.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 edged 0.2 per cent lower to 19,648.09 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 per cent to 3,062.85. But other markets were mostly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.2 per cent to 25,431.47 and the S&P ASX 200 of Australia was flat at 5,771.60. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3 per cent to 2,310.02. Markets in Southeast Asia were higher.

WALL STREET: Stocks rose for the third straight day with technology companies closing in on all-time highs, led by big names like Cisco Systems and Qualcomm. Aerospace and defence companies rose after U.S. President Donald Trump presided over a $110 billion sale of military equipment to Saudi Arabia that could expand to $350 billion over 10 years. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 0.5 per cent to 2,394.02. The Dow Jones industrial average 0.4 per cent to 20,894.83 and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8 per cent to 6,133.62.

MANCHESTER BLAST: The explosion struck an Ariana Grande concert in northern England late Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens. The singer was not injured. Britain's terrorist threat level has been set at "severe" in recent years, indicating an attack is highly likely. Police said the explosion is being judged a terrorist attack unless new information proves otherwise.

ANALYST'S VIEWPOINT: "The recovery in U.S. markets remains underway while the latest development in Manchester threatens to derail the positive lead for markets in the Asia-Pacific region," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 10 cents to $51.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday it added 46 cents to $51.13 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 16 cents to $53.71 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 111.07 yen from 111.34 yen. The euro rose to $1.1252 from $1.1237.

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