Asian shares drop as Putin orders troops to east Ukraine

A man wearing a protective mask, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, walks past an electronic board displaying Japan's Nikkei index and various countries' stock market index prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, February 22, 2022. - Reuters

SINGAPORE, Feb 22 (AP): Shares fell sharply in Asia on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, suggesting a long-feared invasion was possibly underway.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.8% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 3.2% in early trading. Oil prices jumped, with U.S. crude up 2.8%. The future for the S&P 500 dropped 1.5% while the contract for the Dow industrials lost 1.3%.