Asian shares fell Thursday, AP reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 index skidded 1% to 23,795.44, while the Kospi in South Korea sank 0.9% to 2,246.13. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 2.1% to 27,751.30, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 2.8% to 2,973.90. Australia's S&P ASX/200 shed 0.6% to 7,088.00. Shares rose in India and Jakarta but fell in Singapore. Benchmark crude oil fell $1.13 to $55.61 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.64 to settle at $56.74 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gave up $1.08 cents to $62.13 per barrel. It slid $1.38 to close at $63.21 a barrel overnight. Gold fell 70 cents to $1,555.90 per ounce, silver lost 11 cents to $17.72 per ounce and copper fell 3 cents to $2.77 per pound. The dollar fell to 109.53 Japanese yen from 109.83 yen on Wednesday. The euro weakened to $1.1085 from $1.1097.
