Investing.com - Asian stocks fell in Tuesday trade, on renewed fears concerning European sovereign debt and the overnight downturn on Wall Street.
During early Asian trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gave up 0.54% to 16,731.60, Japan’s Nikkei Index retreated 1.75% to 8,395.58, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.22% to 3,888.50.
The Topix Index of all shares listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, fell 1.93% to trade at 732.72.
Earlier Monday, the Greek government announced its 2011 fiscal deficit would total 8.5% of gross domestic product, well short of the 7.6% target set out by European finance officials as a prerequisite to obtaining a new round of rescue funds.
Officials from the so-called troika - the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were meeting in Greece to decide on the disbursement of a new tranche of funds, which Greece needs in order to avoid default on its obligations in the coming weeks.
Adding to negative sentiment for the 17-member common currency, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers, said Monday the group will not yet make a scheduled decision on the next round of bailout payments to Greece.
The decision was delayed last month until Greece could be determined as having met all conditions for additional financial aid.
Later Monday, the U.S. Institute for Supply Management reported that its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose 51.6 in the month of September, up from 50,6 the previous month.
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Market expectations were for the index to register 50.5 for the period.
Indications of increased U.S. manufacturing activity were not enough to save Wall Street issues from posting steep drops by the end of the Monday session; The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.36%, the Nasdaq Composite Index sank 3.29%, while the S&P 500 surrendered 2.85%.
Over the weekend, the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey of manufacturers in Japan showed a an increase to 2, from minus 9 in the previous quarter, matching market expectations.
But the survey of business sentiment remained below the 6 it registered before the March 11 earthquake and tusnamis that triggered a subsequent contraction in Japan’s economy.
Automakers in the region came in to play as they reported sales figures for the month of September.
In Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp. fell 2.8% after reporting a 17.5% drop in U.S. sales, while Mazda Motor Corp. slumped 3.4% after announcing a 37.4% increase in North American sales year on year.
In Seoul, Hyundai Motor Co. slid 3% after reporting U.S. sales rose by 11.8% in September.
Financial issues across the region posted losses as investor anxieties focused on the prospects for a resolution to Europe’s debt woes.
Mitsubishi UFJ Holdings was down 1.65%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. lost 2%, while National Bank of Australia Ltd. fell 1.1%.
The outlook for European stocks was optimistic. France’s CAC 40 futures was higher by 0.44% to 2,874.00, Britain’s FTSE 100 futures climbed 0.17% to 4,955.10, while Germany’s DAX futures added 0.35% to 5,280.40.
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