a British tanker lifted crude oil prices.South Korea's KOSPI shed 0.3 percent, Australian stocks lost 0.2 percent and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.5 percent.
But the stock markets gave back those gains on Friday, with Wall Street shares ending in negative territory, after the New York Fed walked back Williams' comments by saying his speech was not about potential policy action at the upcoming Fed meeting. "The possibility of a 50 bp cut has almost dissipated following the WSJ report and the New York Fed's attempt to tone down earlier comments by Williams," wrote Kenji Yamamoto, economist at Daiwa Securities.The dollar index against a basket of 6 major currencies was steady at 97.152 after rising 0.4 percent on Friday.The greenback was nearly flat at 107.830 yen after adding 0.4 percent on Friday thanks to the rise in U.S yields.In commodities, Brent crude futures were up 1.