In the US tonight, according to preliminary calculations, the DJIA dropped 36.42 points to 11,345.05. The S&P500 lost 4.78 points at 1,297.52 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 16.20 points to 2,147.75.
In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed the morning up 71.59 points at 17,079.47, while the Nikkei was recently up 219.86 points at 16,188.90.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for September delivery was 4 cents higher at $72.49 a barrel from its close of $72.45 in US trades overnight.