Nineteen people were reported dead following a blast at the Manchester Arena in northern England where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, Reuters said. The U.K. police are treating the blast as a terrorism incident.
The British pound also slipped after the news, fetching as little as $1.2983, off a high of $1.3005 earlier. At 8:10 a.m. HK/SIN, the pound was at $1.2991.
The safe-haven yen climbed after news of the bombing. The dollar was fetching as little as 110.84 yen down from around 111.34 yen earlier. At 8:05 a.m. HK/SIN, the dollar was fetching 111.00 yen.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump spent the weekend in Saudi Arabia where a $350 billion arms deal between the two countries was signed.
The Nikkei 225 dipped 0.05 percent in early Tuesday trade while the ASX 200 traded 0.07 percent higher . South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was up by 0.05 percent.
In currency news, the dollar weakened further against a basket of currencies to trade at a six-month low. The dollar index last traded at 96.91, off the 97 handle seen in the last session.
Oil prices rose to a one-month high in the last session on the hopes that OPEC-led output cuts could be further deepened. Benchmark Brent crude rose 0.07 percent to trade at $53.91 a barrel and U.S. crude rose 0.1 percent to trade at $51.19.
In economic news, Singapore CPI data for the month of April is due at 1:00 pm HK/SIN. Hong Kong April CPI is due later in afternoon.
Stateside, equities gained across the board in the last session as tech and defense stocks made substantial gains.