Asia Stocks Drop as Havens Sought on Crimea; Wheat Surges - Bloomberg

Asia Stocks Drop as Havens Sought on Crimea; Wheat Surges - Bloomberg:



"Asian stocks and U.S. equity-index futures tumbled with emerging-market currencies while the yen, gold and Treasuries gained as tensions over Ukraine intensified. Russia’s central bank unexpectedly boosted its key interest rate 150 basis points as shares in Moscow plunged the most in five years while wheat surged on supply concerns.



The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.7 percent by 3:36 p.m. in Tokyo and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell the most in a month as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flies to Kiev today. Russia’s Micex index (INDEXCF) fell 8 percent and the ruble slipped to a record versus the dollar, which strengthened against most emerging currencies. The yen added 0.4 percent. Gold climbed 1.3 percent and Brent crude jumped as much as 1.9 percent. Ten-year Treasury yields slipped to an almost one-month low. Wheat surged as much as 4.5 percent and corn rose to a five-month high."



'via Blog this'