Asian shares drift as blast in Manchester rattles investors

Police officers stand next to their vehicles near the Manchester Arena after a blast at Ariana Grande concert Tuesday May 23, 2017. An explosion struck the concert attended by thousands of young music fans in northern England, killing more than a dozen of people and injuring dozens in what police said Tuesday was being treated as a terrorist attack. (Photo by PETER BYRNE / PA via AP)

TOKYO — Asian shares meandered Tuesday after a strong overnight lead from Wall Street was vanquished by an explosion in Manchester, England, that killed at least 22 people. Police said they were treating it as a terror attack. Oil prices fell back after Monday’s rally.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1 percent lower to 19,660.03 as the yen gained against the US dollar, potentially hurting exporters’ earnings. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1 percent to 3,072.67, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.2 percent to 25,448.21. The S&P ASX 200 of Australia slipped 0.2 percent to 5,759.30. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.7 percent to 2,321.14 as impeached former President Park Geun-hye went on trial. Taiwan shares rose and markets in Southeast Asia were mixed.

MANCHESTER BLAST: The explosion struck an Ariana Grande concert in northern England late Monday, killing at least 22 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 “explosion in Manchester early this morning had led to knee-jerk risk aversion trades, with the US dollar/Japanese yen slipping below the 111 level momentarily. Short of a wider-scale incident, we do not expect more disruptions to the market,” Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

SOUTH KOREA TRIAL: Park, the former president, denied that she engaged in bribery and leaking government secrets at Tuesday’s start of the criminal trial that could send South Korea’s first female leader to prison for life if she is convicted. Park was removed from office after the Constitutional Court upheld her December impeachment after massive street protests over corruption allegations that emerged last October.

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 defense companies rose after 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 percent to 2,394.02. The Dow Jones industrial average 0.4 percent to 20,894.83 and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8 percent to 6,133.62.

ENERGY: Benchmark US crude oil lost 24 cents to $50.89 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 25 cents to $53.62 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar weakened to 111.09 yen from 111.34 yen. The euro rose to $1.1245 from $1.1237.