Mainland China markets lead losses as Asia stocks slide amid investor caution over Russia-Ukraine war

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific declined in Tuesday trade, with mainland Chinese markets leading losses regionally as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to keep investors on edge.

Mainland China's Shanghai composite declined 2% while the Shenzhen component fell 2.62%. The CSI 300 index, which tracks the largest mainland-listed stocks, dropped 1.69%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong, which led losses among the region's major markets on Monday, shed earlier gains and fell into negative territory as it slipped 0.35%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.64% while the Topix index shed 0.59%. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.48%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.24%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.88% lower.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 dropped 2.95% to 4,201.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 797.42 points, or 2.37%, to 32,817.38. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged, falling 3.62% to 12,830.96.

The losses on Wall Street came as investors continue to monitor the potential economic hit of disruptions in the global energy supply as the Russia-Ukraine war continues.

Investors continued to monitor moves in the oil markets on Tuesday, with prices turning positive in the morning of Asia trading hours. International benchmark Brent crude futures gained 2.46% to $126.24 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 1.64% to $121.34 per barrel.

Amid the lingering uncertainty from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, oil prices recently spiked momentarily to their highest levels since July 2008.

Regional airline stocks, which are sensitive to oil prices, continued to decline in Tuesday trade.

Shares of Japan Airlines slipped 2.98% in Tuesday trade while Korean Air Lines in South Korea fell 1.81%. Over in Southeast Asia, shares of Singapore Airlines slipped 0.8%. Hong Kong-listed shares of China Eastern Airlines also shed 2.81% and Cathay Pacific dropped 2.3%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 99.118 following recent turbulence that saw it trading between 99.4 and 98.7.

The Japanese yen traded at 115.43 per dollar, following yesterday's weakening from below 115 against the greenback. The Australian dollar was at $0.7323 after recently declining from above $0.736, shedding some of its gains from last week.