Asia stocks slip as investors continue watching Ukraine crisis; China holds steady on benchmark lending rate

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific fell in Monday morning trade, as investors continued to watch the situation surrounding Ukraine. In economic data, China left a benchmark lending rate unchanged.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 2% momentarily in morning trade before retracing some of those losses, last declining 1.05% while the Topix index shed 0.95%. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.69%.

In mainland China, the Shanghai composite shed 0.1% while the Shenzhen component was slightly lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 0.96%.

China on Monday held steady on a benchmark lending rate, with the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) kept unchanged at 3.7%. That was in line with predictions from all 24 financial institutions in a snap Reuters poll.

The five-year LPR was also kept unchanged at 4.6%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 sat fractionally lower.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.46% lower.

Fears of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine likely continued weighing on investor sentiment. U.S. President Joe Biden abruptly cancelled plans on Sunday to go home to Delaware following a top level meeting on the Ukraine crisis.

Markets in the U.S. are closed on Monday for a holiday.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.032 following its recent climb from below 96.

The Japanese yen traded at 115.02 per dollar after strengthening to around 114.8 against the greenback late last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.719 following a decline from above $0.72 late last week.

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.64% to $92.94 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 0.44% to $90.67 per barrel.