* Brent falls as much as 1.9 pct to $111.49; US crude below
$100
* Investors liquidate positions as risk aversion grows-fund
manager
* Japan's Nikkei share average falls
* Saudi troops enter Bahrain to help calm protests
* Coming Up: IEA oil mkt report, US API weekly inventory
data
(Adds background on Bahrain, Libya)
By Alejandro Barbajosa
SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Brent crude fell by as much
as 1.9 percent to below $112 after explosions rocked an
earthquake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant on Tuesday, sending
radiation levels higher and dampening sentiment across financial
markets.
April Brent fell $1.77 to $111.90 a barrel at 0332
GMT after trading as low as $111.49. Prices on Monday touched a
two-week low of $111.16, down more than 7 percent from a 2-1/2
year high of $119.79 on Feb. 24. U.S. crude for April
dropped $1.79 to $99.40.
"People are going for risk aversion, so investors are
liquidating assets and positions including in crude oil and
gold," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Astmax Co
Ltd.
Japan's prime minister warned that radioactive levels had
become "significantly" higher around an earthquake-stricken
nuclear power plant after explosions at two reactors, and the
French embassy said a low level radioactive wind could reach
Tokyo in 10 hours.
"This is just the first reaction after Fukushima, so it's
more about sentiment. The nuclear plant issue is an unexpected,
very serious additional factor for the market because we don't
have any experience on that," Emori said.
Oil markets were also eyeing developments in the Middle
East, where Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to
help calm weeks of protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority, a
move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island state
called a declaration of war.
Unrest has simmered across the Middle East for two months
after popular uprisings toppled the leaders of Tunisia and
Egypt, while Libya entered a civil war that has cut oil output
by at least two-thirds of normal levels.
The protests in top oil exporter Saudi Arabia have been very
small, but in neighboring Bahrain the Sunni monarchy is facing
rising discontent from the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the
U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia
that concessions by the country's monarchy could inspire the
conservative Sunni-ruled kingdom's own Shi'ite minority.
"What's happening in the Middle East is quite important to
support the market, but sentiment is affected by what will
happen in Japan first and this factor is much bigger in the
market," Emori said.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average fell 12.17 percent
to 8,449.73 on Tuesday, while the broader Topix shed
12.44 percent to 741.57.
In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi's jets bombed rebels on Monday in
a counter-offensive that has pushed them back 100 miles (160 km)
in a week, far outpacing diplomatic efforts to impose a no-fly
zone to help the insurgents.
On the data front, markets were looking towards weekly U.S.
inventory numbers from the industry group American Petroleum
Institute later in the day and from the Energy Information
Administration on Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose last week on higher imports
and as refinery utilization edged lower as seasonal maintenance
continued, a preliminary Reuters poll ahead of the weekly
inventory data showed.
(Editing by Himani Sarkar)
