Asia shares stumble, oil skids to 27-mth lows

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share markets were mostly in the red on Wednesday as worries about waning global growth lifted safe-haven bonds, while shoving oil prices to their lowest in more than two years.

Extending a three-month-long decline, Brent oil sank US$1.18 to US$90.93 a barrel while U.S. crude tumbled US$1.07 to US$87.78. The protracted slide should be a windfall for consumer spending power, but is also a powerful force for disinflation in much of the developed world.

That has been a boon for sovereign bonds as investors wager the outlook for slowing inflation could put off the day when U.S. interest rates might rise.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting are due later in the session and markets will be acutely sensitive to how the debate between hawks and doves on the committee was playing out.

In Asia, Japan's Topix shed 1.1 per cent while the Nikkei dropped 1.0 per cent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1 per cent, while Australia's main index lost 0.9 per cent.

China's markets bucked the trend as they returned from a week-long break, with Shanghai up 0.5 per cent, though Hong Kong shed 0.7 per cent.

A private survey of China's services sector showed growth eased a touch in September, but that only served to reinforce expectations of further stimulus measures by Beijing.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.