Tokyo — Asian shares fell on Monday on the escalating trade tension between the US and major economies while oil prices gave up some of their hefty gains made after major oil producers agreed to a modest increase in production. S&P500 mini futures eased as much as 0.6% in early trade while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.25%. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.4%. The falls were triggered by a report from the Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump plans to bar many Chinese companies from investing in US technology firms and block additional technology exports to China. "Until last week, there was vague optimism that we can muddle through this. But now it looks like, unless the US lays down its arms, things will be getting more chaotic," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. As the threat of a full-blown trade war has become all the more real, MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe has fallen in five of the past six weeks...
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