Asian shares fall amid jitters ahead of trade talks

Asian shares were mostly lower Thursday amid investor jitters ahead of the latest round of trade talks between the US and China.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 1.3 per cent in early trading to 21,333.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 per cent to 6,291.60.

South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.0 per cent to 2,145.82. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.6 per cent to 28,549.70, while the Shanghai Composite shed 1.0 per cent to 2,862.98, reports AP.

The S&P 500 index fell 4.63 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,879.42. The benchmark index had been up 0.5 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 2.24 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 25,967.33. The Nasdaq composite dropped 20.44 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 7,943.32.

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks slid 7.34 points, or 0.5 per cent to 1,574.97.

Benchmark US crude fell 63 cents to $61.49 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 69 cents to $69.69.

The dollar slipped to 109.89 yen from 110.06 yen. The euro fell to $1.1187 from $1.1202.