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SYDNEY | Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:16pm EDT
(Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday, while the Turkish lira hit a record low after the United States signaled possible military action against the Syrian government over a suspected chemical weapons attack.
Dealers said there was no panic selling though, just truncated trading interest as investors waited nervously to see how the situation unfolds.
"Given the headlines overnight regarding (a potential U.S. strike) in Syria, it's a situation when people are prepared to sit there and wait," said Simon Twiss, a dealer at Arnhem Investment Management.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dipped 0.4 percent, erasing Monday's rise. Tokyo's Nikkei .N225 was flat, while the safe-haven yen climbed broadly.
"It's a risk-off story because of Syria and also if you see broad repatriation from emerging markets currencies, the yen will benefit," said Michael Turner, strategist at RBC.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in the most forceful reaction yet to last week's gas attack outside Damascus, said President Barack Obama "believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people."
His comments saw U.S. stocks .SPX end 0.4 percent lower in light volumes. The risk of supply disruption lifted Brent crude above $111 a barrel to a five-month high. It last traded up 0.4 percent at $111.16. Read more...
