Reuters :
Asian stocks slid and crude oil scaled nine-month highs on Friday as escalating civil war in Iraq hit risk appetite.
The yen benefited from its safe-haven status and a decline in US Treasury yields following soft US data that dented economic optimism.
Sunni Islamist militants have extended their advance south towards Baghdad prompting President Barack Obama to warn of possible US military intervention, while Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the oil hub of Kirkuk amid the chaos.
Weaker-than-expected US retail sales and jobless claims data released on Thursday further tempered economic optimism felt earlier in the week that had propelled Wall Street to record highs.
Taking its cue from an overnight slide in US stocks, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shed 0.4 percent. The index, which hit a three-year high on Monday, was still poised to scrape up 0.1 percent this week.
Tokyo’s Nikkei .N225 lost 0.6 percent, on course to end the week on a 1.3 percent loss.
“Geopolitical tensions in Iraq have hit risk appetites. People are concerned as developments in Iraq could have a big impact on oil prices and the US market, and there could be repercussions in Japan,” said Hiromichi Tamura, chief strategist at Nomura Securities in Tokyo.
US crude CLc1 rose 73 cents to $107.26 a barrel, after going as high as $107.68, its highest since September.
The dollar traded little changed at 101.79 yen JPY=, near a two-week low of 101.600 hit on Thursday.
