Shares slipped Monday in most Asian markets after Wall Street benchmarks ended last week with a decline. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 declined 0.3% to 30,287.09 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 2.4% to 25,585.03. In Seoul, the Kospi shed 0.5% to 3,110.61, while the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.2% to 7,413.70. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 3,697.94. Shares fell in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the Associated Press reported. In other trading Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 25 cents to $69.97 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.58 to $69.72 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude, the international pricing standard, climbed 18 cents to $73.10 per barrel. The U.S. dollar edged up to 110.01 Japanese yen from 109.90 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1790 from $1.1817.
