Asian shares fell Monday after another week of sizable losses on Wall Street, as investors braced for another interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Associated Press reported. Japan's markets were closed for a holiday. Oil prices and U.S. futures declined. The S&P 500 sank 4.8% for the week, with much of the loss coming from a 4.3% rout on Tuesday following a surprisingly hot report on inflation. All the major indexes have now posted losses four out of the past five weeks. In Asia on Monday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 18,558.18 while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.6% to 3,106.57. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower, to 6,732.20. In Seoul, the Kospi sank 1.2% to 2,355.31. In other trading Monday, U.S. benchmark crude lost 26 cents to $84.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It edged up 1 cent to $85.11 per barrel. Brent crude oil gave up 2 cents to $91.33 per barrel. The dollar strengthened to 143.35 Japanese yen from 142.94 yen. The euro slipped to 99.77 cents from $1.0014.
