PTR Petrochina Company Ltd

Shares across Asia slid Tuesday as prices of oil and other commodities fell, while investors continued to struggle with uncertainty over the timing of the next U.S. interest-rate increase.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average sank 0.7%, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index was off 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 0.1%.

Despite the slipping markets, many investors remained skeptical the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates as soon as June, even after hawkish comments by three Fed officials overnight. A prevailing reluctance to make big bets before the Fed's policy meeting next month has kept trading quiet in Asia, analysts said.

"People are being more nimble at the moment," said Alex Wijaya, a senior sales trader at CMC Markets. "They're less likely taking long-term positions" before two major market-moving events in June, the Fed's rate decision being one and [ a vote on a U.K. exit from the European Union] being the other.

"Most traders can't really predict what will be the result of that," so they are hesitating to take long-term bets, Mr. Wijaya added.

Much of the current pessimism centers around a slump in oil and commodities prices. Energy and materials shares sank across the Asia-Pacific region. Steelmaker Angang Steel Co. fell 2.4%, and oil producer PetroChina Co. fell 1.6% in Hong Kong. Kobe Steel was down 3% in Japan.

During early Asian trading hours, steel rebar futures dropped 2.3%, while iron-ore futures fell 3.1%. Prices for both contracts have slumped to their lowest since Feb. 29.

A stronger yen added to commodities-related worries in Japan. Stocks were falling after the local currency strengthened versus the U.S. dollar overnight. Shares of exporters suffered, with tractor maker Kubota Corp. down 3.8%. A stronger yen hurts the competitiveness of Japanese exporters.

In other markets, Chinese authorities set the yuan marginally weaker versus the U.S. dollar. Analysts said skepticism had been growing about whether China is really allowing market forces to drive the value of the yuan.

Brent crude oil was recently down 0.4% at $48.13 per barrel.

Kosaku Narioka, Ewen Chew and Yifan Xie contributed to this article.

Write to Dominique Fong at Dominique.Fong@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 24, 2016 01:45 ET (05:45 GMT)

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