Asian shares retreated Tuesday as investors grew cautious ahead of key event risks from the U.S. and Europe later in the week, with exporters in Japan hit by a weak euro.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index fell 61.99 points, or 0.7%, to 8,807.38
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 30.71 points, or 0.2%, to 19,857.88
The losses in Asia followed a decline for U.S. stocks Monday, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision due Thursday. A weak jobs report for August stoked expectations that the central bank may unveil plans to support the economy
Risks from news headlines are also high in Europe this week, as Germany’s constitutional court is due to rule on the legality of the euro-zone’s permanent rescue fund Wednesday, and Eurogroup finance ministers are due to gather Friday.
Japanese exporters with strong exposure to Europe were hit as the euro fell back below the psychologically significant 100-yen level Monday.
NEC Corp. dropped 0.9%, Sony Corp. slipped 0.3% and Mazda Motor Corp. retreated 2.1%.
Panasonic Corp. lost 1.7% after Moody’s downgraded its credit rating by two notches to just one level above “junk” grade, citing poor earnings and high debt.
Shares of Toshiba Corp. shed 0.8% after announcing a settlement in a U.S. antitrust case over flat-panel price fixing, with Toshiba agreeing to pay $30 million U.S. while admitting no wrongdoing.
Tokyo-listed financials also suffered amid concerns about Europe. Shares of Nomura Holdings Inc. lost 0.7% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. shed 1.1%.
In Hong Kong, shares of Li & Fung Ltd. dropped 1.1% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the export and logistics firm to hold from buy.
Resource shares were also weak across the region following falls on some commodity markets overnight.
Shares of China Coal Energy Co. slipped 0.3% and Angang Steel Co. dropped 2.2% in Hong Kong; on mainland Chinese bourses, they gave up 1.1% each.
In Australia, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. lost 1% and Santos Ltd. eased 0.4% after crude-oil futures settled with a mild loss in New York on Monday.
Shares of gold major Newcrest Mining Ltd. dropped 0.9%.
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index subsided 14.78 points, or 0.6%, to 2,311.89
Korea’s Kospi index let go of 4.70 points, or 0.2%, to 1,920
The Singapore Straits Times Index regained 7.68 points, or 0.3%, to 3,016.40
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 2.39 points to 7,485.13
New Zealand’s NZX index took on 18.05 points, or 0.5%, to 3,744.96
Australia’s ASX Index slid 7.97 points, or 0.2%, to 4,325.79
