Asian shares off as Japan aftershocks renew fears

Asian shares fell Tuesday after strong aftershocks in Japan following last month's devastating quake-tsunami stoked fresh concerns over the nuclear crisis, while the yen also surged.
Poor earnings from aluminium giant Alcoa in the United States and a weak lead from Wall Street saw investors focus on Japan after the country was jolted on Monday -- a month after the March 11 tragedy -- by a 6.6-magnitude quake.
Japan was rocked again on Tuesday by two more aftershocks of 6.0 or greater magnitude.
Tokyo's Nikkei ended 1.69 percent, or 164.44 points, down at 9,555.26 while Hong Kong fell 1.34 percent, or 326.70 points, to 23,976.37.
Sydney closed 1.46 percent, or 72.5 points, lower at 4,898.7 and Seoul fell 1.55 percent, or 32.99 points, to 2,089.40.
Shanghai ended flat, edging down 1.38 points to 3,021.37.
The renewed fears also sent currency dealers running for safe havens, with the yen rallying against the dollar and the euro.
Monday's earthquake forced the evacuation of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it briefly cut power to three reactors already crippled by last month's 9.0 quake and resulting tsunami.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended just 0.01 percent higher, the tech-rich Nasdaq fell 0.32 percent and the S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, dropped 0.28 percent.
On currency markets, dealers worried by the latest developments in Japan moved into safer-haven units.
The dollar dived from 84.78 yen in afternoon trade to 83.91 in Asia, compared with 84.67 yen in New York late Monday.
However, the greenback later clawed back its losses and was sitting at 84.32 yen in early European trade.
The Japanese unit strengthened to 121.74 against the euro from 122.10.
The euro also fell to $1.4431 in Asia from $1.4436 in New York. It had slipped to below $1.4400 in Asia.
Singapore fell 0.71 percent, or 22.44 points, to 3,138.00.
Keppel Land fell 1.13 percent to 4.39 and Singapore Airlines shed 1.03 percent to 13.44.
Taipei fell 1.66 percent, or 147.68 points, to 8,732.59.
Manila closed 0.67 percent, or 28.51 points, lower at 4,199.48.
Bangkok rose 0.80 percent, or 8.58 points, to 1,084.91.
Banpu lost 4.00 baht to 778.00, while PTT gained 3.00 baht to 371.00.
Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.