Asian shares mostly lower as investors eye Ukraine crisis

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Monday after a retreat on Wall Street, as investors watched for developments in Ukraine after Russia rescinded earlier pledges to pull tens of thousands of its troops away from Ukraine’s northern border.

Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai declined while Sydney advanced.

The White House said President Joe Biden had agreed “in principle” to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he refrains from launching an assault that U.S. officials say appears increasingly likely.

Russia's decision extended military exercises that brought an estimated 30,000 Russian forces to Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbor. They had been due to end Sunday. The troops are among some 150,000 deployed along Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, warplanes, artillery and other war materiel.

The concern that Russian troops could descend on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away, has added to uncertainties for investors already jittery over central bank strategies to combat inflation.

Russia is a major energy producer and a military conflict also could disrupt energy supplies and make for extremely volatile energy prices.

Markets are on “tenterhooks," Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. But it added, “relief rallies appear to be emerging; drawing comfort from Presidents Biden and Putin having ‘accepted the principle' of a summit; conditional upon Russia not invading Ukraine."

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.7% to 26,926.01, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.6% to 24,194.64. In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.4% to 2,733.36 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 3,479.07.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 7,239.30 as the country prepared to reopen its borders to more...