Asian shares mixed as Russia-Ukraine tensions weigh

AFP, Hong Kong :
Asian shares were mixed Monday, with the latest round of tensions between Russia and Ukraine exerting selling pressure despite some progress cited in the “difficult” negotiations between both sides.
Seoul was down 0.31 percent, Hong Kong slipped 0.18 percent, but Shanghai gained 0.41 percent while Tokyo and Sydney traded flat.
US shares rebounded late Friday to end mixed after an early bout of selling on news that Ukraine had shelled Russian armoured vehicles after they entered its territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.30 percent at 16,662.91, after earlier having shed 0.50 percent on the news.
Worries that the incident would lead to a direct clash between the two ebbed after Moscow denied the incursion and Ukraine’s foreign minister agreed to meet his Russian counterpart in Berlin on Sunday.
The two sides ended the “difficult” talks on the crisis with no concrete advances but “some progress”, hosts Germany said, as clashes continued on the ground.