Tokyo — Asian shares were subdued on Thursday as political uncertainty in the US and worry about weakening global economic growth left investors wary of riskier assets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1%. It has gained 3.7% so far in 2019. Australian shares were flat while Japan’s Nikkei was last down almost 0.5% after moving between positive and negative territory. China’s blue-chip CSI300 shed 0.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gave up 0.2%. On Wall Street, all three major US equity indices closed in positive territory, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average booking the largest gains on upbeat quarterly results from International Business Machines and other major firms. The S&P 500 gained 0.22%. But gains were capped by uncertainty over the partial US government shutdown, slowing global economic growth and the yet-unresolved trade standoff between the US and China. “Above all, [investors] are wary there’s a possibility that the economic slow...
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