In the US tonight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 9 points at 12,436. The S&P 500 fell 4 points to 1,422, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 21 points to 2,436.
In Asia today, the Nikkei closed down 185.23 points at 16,776.88, while the Hang Seng reached the midpoint down 237.54 points or 1.24 pct at 18,955.37.
New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, was 5 cents higher at $62.26 a barrel from $62.21 in late US trades overnight when it dropped by $1.22 usd.