“China has considerable policy levers to pull in an adverse global growth scenario,” equity strategists led by Jonathan Garner wrote in a report on Thursday. “However, global investors may raise the risk premium on Chinese investments as a result of Russia’s actions.”

The bank’s year-end target for the Hang Seng Index in a bear-case is 21,000 points, or 8 per cent downside from Friday’s closing level.

“This [Ukraine] situation may cause investors to focus further on the areas of contention between the US and China, including Taiwan,” they said, as both nations square off in areas including trade, financial market policy and national security.

Morningstar: limited impact on Asian equities, CNOOC as winner

Energy prices are likely to remain high, even as oil and gas prices have already priced in most of the geopolitical risk, said Lorraine Tan, director of Asia equity research.

“We continue to believe that inflation leading to the risk of higher-than-expected interest rates and slowing China growth continue to carry greater risk to our fair value estimates.

“We see the oil and gas companies benefitting in the short term”, such as CNOOC, she added.

Amundi: not time to buy the dip

“[The conflict surrounding Ukraine] is just the first leg of adjustment in a process that could persist in the next weeks,” said Pascal Blanque, chairman of Amundi Institure and former group chief investment officer at Europe’s biggest money manager. “This is not a time to try to buy the dip, as the market does not yet fully understand the impact of this geopolitical shock.”

RBC Wealth Management: conflict could play out in short order

“While the situation is fluid, history shows the equity market impact could play out in short order even if the conflict lingers,” portfolio analyst Kelly Bogdanova wrote on Thursday. With cooler heads in Washington and Moscow, the pressure on stock markets should ease quickly, she said.

In 18 post-war events, the sell-off in the S&P 500 was limited to an average of 6.2 per cent and typically played out over a brief period. This is well within the bounds of a typical pullback in many scenarios, including non-military ones, she added.

The S&P 500 has retreated 4.8 per cent since February 11, when the US said a Russian invasion could begin within days before the Beijing Olympics was over. Immediate risks to equities include sanctions on Russia, which would impact energy, agriculture and metals markets and overall global economic growth.