Asian shares climb amid Russia-Ukraine talks, oil worries

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday as global investors eyed talks aimed at ending the Russian military assault on Ukraine, which so far have yielded just an agreement to keep talking.

Benchmarks were higher in early trading in Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai. Hong Kong declined and markets were closed in South Korea for a holiday. U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices rose.

Surging oil prices and increasing financial pressure from the U.S. and allies on Russia, one of the world's largest energy exporters, for its invasion of Ukraine are adding to uncertainty about the global economic outlook.

Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s second-largest city on Monday, rocking a residential neighborhood, and closed in on the capital, Kyiv, in a 40-mile convoy of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles.

“The end game continues to elude. While the ceasefire talks at the Belarus-Ukraine border ended, the military fires certainly have not ended by any means alongside sanctions being raised further,” Tan Boon Heng at Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a commentary.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 1.4% in afternoon trading to 26,893.98. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 0.7% to 7,096.50. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.4% to 22,628.17, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.2% to 3,469.90. Trading was closed in South Korea for a national holiday.

“Asian equities were higher on Tuesday mirroring a mild rebound on Wall Street and following talks between Russia and Ukraine. The market’s focus will continue to be on geopolitical tensions, at least in the short term,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.

The value of the Russian ruble plunged to a record low after Western countries moved to block some Russian banks from a key global payments system. On Monday, the U.S....