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Hong Kong- Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday following a weak lead from Wall Street, while energy firms clawed back some losses and airlines dipped after oil prices rebounded from multi-year lows.
The Russian ruble strengthened slightly against the dollar after suffering its worst one-day fall in 16 years, battered by falling crude and Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Tokyo eased 0.10% as the yen edged up against the dollar, while analysts said dealers were unfazed by a decision by Moody's to downgrade Japan's credit rating.
Sydney jumped 1.00%, boosted by the rally in energy firms after their huge losses in the previous two sessions, while Hong Kong edged up 0.11% and Shanghai fell 0.52%. Seoul was 0.28% lower.
US investors ran for the sidelines on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend saw disappointing sales on the key Black Friday retail day, which officially kicks off the Christmas shopping season.
The Dow eased 0.27%, the S&P 500 fell 0.68% and the Nasdaq sank 1.34%.
Oil prices edged down in Asia but were still well off their five-year lows touched on Monday before recovering on bargain-buying.
In early trade US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell 21 cents to $68.79 - against a trough of $63.72 Monday - while Brent crude for January was down 14c at $72.40, sharply up from its $67.53 bottom.
Ruble edges up
Prices have plummeted since Thursday's decision by the Opec oil cartel to hold output levels despite a global supply glut.
While prices are edging down again, energy giants enjoyed some buying interest after a painful sell-off on Friday and on Monday. Sydney-listed BHP Billiton rose 3.8%, Woodside added 3.2% and Santos gained 2.6%, while in Hong Kong PetroChina and CNOOC each gained 1.7%.
However airlines, whose main cost is fuel, suffered losses after recent advances. Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong dipped 2.8% and Seoul-based Korean Airlines shed 2.3%.
On currency markets the ruble edged up slightly to 51.19 against the dollar from 52. The Russian unit plunged almost nine percent to 53.9 against the greenback, its worst one-day fall since the country's 1998 debt crisis.
It has now fallen nearly 60% against the dollar since the start of this year due to collapsing oil prices and Western sanctions imposed against Russia's support for a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.
In other forex trading, the dollar was at ¥118.44 against ¥118.40 in New York on Monday.
The euro sat at ¥147.61 compared with ¥147.64, while it also bought $1.2473 against $1.2469.
Shunichi Otsuka, general manager of research and strategy at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, said the yen and stocks were not badly hit by the Moody's downgrade on Monday. The ratings agency cited Tokyo's debt problems and the government's faltering efforts to boost the economy.
"Little of Japan's debt is held by foreigners, so unless there is a surprise upward impact on interest rates, the picture for equity investing should not be much harmed," Otsuka told Dow Jones Newswires.
"Any softness in today's market should not be directly attributable to the downgrade."
Gold was at $1 206.71 an ounce, compared with $1 156.80 late on Monday.
