AKIPRESS.COM - Asian stock markets steadied Tuesday after a sharp sell-off the day before, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was up 0.5% at 15,198.21 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2% to 22,305.20. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 2,005.31. Markets were also higher in South Korea, Australia and Southeast Asia.

Asia is focusing predominantly on Asian issues, while Europe keeps a closer watch on developments in Ukraine, and the U.S. on the narrative from various Fed members.

On Wall Street, the Standard & Poor's 500 index edged down 0.87 of a point to close at 1,877.17. It had been down 11 points earlier.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 34.04 points, or 0.2%, to 16,418.68. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.77 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,334.45.

The three major U.S. indexes are still up for the month, and only the Dow is down for the year.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was up 6 cents at $101.18 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.46 to close at $101.12 a barrel Monday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3868 from $1.3879 late Monday. The dollar fell to 102.23 yen from 103.26 yen.