Asian stock markets were weaker on Tuesday, AP reported. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 finished nearly flat at 19,677.85 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.4 percent to 2,343.68. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 5,717.90. Markets in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand were lower. Benchmark U.S. crude lost 10 cents to $49.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 90 cents to settle at $49.80 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 37 cents to $52.26 a barrel in London. The dollar fell to 111.03 yen from 111.26. The euro dipped to $1.1137 from $1.1163. European shares fell slightly on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.2 percent by 0855 GMT following three straight days of losses. Euro zone blue chips declined 0.5 percent, while Britain's FTSE dropped 0.4 percent as it reopened following a long weekend. Euro zone banks fell 2 percent to its lowest level in nearly two weeks after Deutsche Bank strategists downgraded regional banking stocks' rating by one notch to "underweight". Italian banking shares, hit in the past two sessions by worries over early elections, were among the losers again on Tuesday with UniCredit down 0.9 percent. Among other euro zone bank heavyweights, Deutsche Bank fell 1.6 percent and Spain's Caixabank dropped 1.4 percent. Barclays said it still expected Italy to hold elections next year, even though chances of a snap vote had risen substantially, with non-negligible risks that anti-establishment parties could win. lsewhere among airlines, Ryanair edged up 0.3 percent after Europe's biggest carrier by passengers reported a record annual profit that was in line with market expectations. British blue chips fell slightly on Tuesday as sterling inched higher less than two weeks before a general election that will shape talks for the country's exit from the European Union, Reuters reported. The FTSE 100 was down 0.3 percent by 0913 GMT as it reopened after a long holiday weekend, while mid-caps were 0.2 percent lower. The blue chip index, however, stayed near a record high hit on Friday after a run aided by a fall in the pound since Britain's vote in June to exit the EU. British Airways owner IAG was a top faller on the FTSE, down 2.8 percent, on the first day of trading following massive weekend disruption to flights due to an IT outage. The FTSE is up around 5 percent this year compared to the 10 percent rise for euro zone stocks. Sterling was up nearly 0.2 percent at $1.2855 by 0852 GMT. It was up 0.3 percent against at 86.69 pence per euro.
