Asian markets ended mostly lower Tuesday, reversing some of the sharp gains from a day earlier, as optimism about the U.S. government's bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac faded and investors considered the effects of a slowing global economy.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed down 223.81 points or 1.8% at 12,400.65 while the benchmark Hang Seng index closed down 303.16 points at 20,491.11, off a low of 20,299.97
On the economic front, a preliminary report from the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Association, or JMTBA, showed that machine tool orders declined at a faster pace of 14.2% year-on-year in August, compared with a decrease of 8.9% in July. On a monthly basis, orders were down 10.1% compared to the 3.6% fall seen in the previous month.
Among shippers, Kawasaki Kisen plunged 5.9%, Mitsui OSK Lines plummeted 6.9%, and Nippon Yusen fell 4.5%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings lost 1.1% and Daiwa Securities Group dropped 3.3%. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp tumbled 5.7%, Marubeni and Mitsui & Co slumped 8.1% each, and Itochu plunged 7.5% as crude oil prices fell in the Asian session Tuesday.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shed 1.2%, Mizuho Financial Group declined 1.3%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell 2.1%.
Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings shed 3.8%, Nippon Mining Holdings plunged 5.1%, and Nippon oil shed 2.5%.
Tech stocks were also weak, with Advantest slipping 0.2%, Fanuc falling 2.4%, Fujitsu plunging 5.7%, Kyocera declining 2.2%, Matsushita Electrical Industrial and Tokyo Electron Plummeting 2.5% each, and NEC giving away 1.9%.
Among exporters, Toyota Motor slipped 0.2%, Sony fell 2.5%, Honda Motor plunged 3.6%, machinery maker Komatsu tumbled 5.0%, and Cannon declined 2.1%.
The Chinese stock market closed slightly higher, rebounding from Monday's steep losses, ahead of the release of key economic data on Wednesday. The market started off higher, but gave away gains in the afternoon session to finish slightly above the flat line.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 2.36 points or 0.11% at 2,145.78, off a low of 2,114.50, the weakest intraday level in 21 months. The key index finished in positive territory, though a fall in the two heavyweight stocks, Sinopec and PetroChina, pressured the market.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp shed 1.5%, extending Monday's 7.6% slump. Index heavyweight PetroChina lost 1.7%.
China Vanke fell 1.3% after the property developer said that it sold 474,000 square meters of property in August, down 32.8% from a year earlier. The total value of the property sold was 4.07 billion yuan, down 35.2%. Poly Real Estate Group closed up 0.8% after tumbling almost 10% on Monday.
On the economic front, the National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release producer price index, consumer price index and fixed-asset investment data on Wednesday.
Steel makers outperformed, with Baosteel jumping 3.1% and Angang Steel gaining 2.7%.
Among airlines, China Eastern Airlines surged 4.3% and Shanghai Airlines soared 6.3% amid merger hopes for the two carriers. China Southern Airlines advanced 3.0% and Air China climbed 3.4%.
In the financial sector, China Life Insurance slipped 0.1%, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China closed unchanged.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed down 3.5% at 6,424.
Singapore's STI fell 0.9% to 2,673.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index shed 3.9% to 1,958.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 0.7% at 1,068.
India's Senex fell 0.3% to finish at 14,900.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index lost 1.7%.
South Korea's Kospi gave up 1.5%.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index added 0.1%.
with files from other wire services
