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Asian Stocks End Lower; Nikkei Falls 2.9%

The Associated Press

By Stephen Wright

BANGKOK -- Asian stocks closed lower Tuesday, with Japan's benchmark down about 3%, after weak U.S. manufacturing figures knocked confidence in a quick recovery from global recession.

Oil retreating from eight-month highs dragged commodity stocks lower in Asia while top manufacturers like Japanese automaker Toyota (TM Quote) fell on the weak data. The dollar weakened after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told a regional summit that the world needs new reserve currencies.

Indexes in big Asian markets such as Japan and Hong Kong have gained 40% or more since early March, powered by ample liquidity and signs the economic slump has leveled out.

But as the rally gathered pace, it became increasingly vulnerable to any evidence that a recovery wasn't unfolding as quickly as investors hoped.

Wall Street faltered Monday on one such sign, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its biggest drop in nearly a month.

A monthly index of manufacturing conditions around the New York region fell to minus 9.4 in June from minus 4.6 the previous month, underscoring that any recovery in the world's largest economy -- a critical market for Asian exporters -- will be tepid and slow.

"All the global stock markets have been overbought so the manufacturing data was a trigger, an excuse to sell and take some profit," said Peter Lai, investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.

"I don't believe the economy will recover so fast," he said. "China and Asia will be the pioneers of the recovery but I don't see it happening until the first or second quarter of 2010."

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average shed 2.9% to 9,752.88 even as the central bank said the country's economic conditions "have begun to stop worsening" -- an improvement from its previous assessment that the economy had been "deteriorating." The Bank of Japan also left its key lending rate unchanged at 0.1% as expected.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng, meanwhile, ended lower by 1.8%, and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.9%. Australia's index lost 1.7%.

Oil's decline hit commodity stocks with Chinese offshore oil producer CNOOC(CEO Quote) plunging in Hong Kong and BHP Billiton(BHP Quote), the world's biggest mining company, off 1.5% in Sydney trading.

Benchmark crude for July delivery fell 1 cent to $70.61 a barrel in Asia trading, taking a breather from a three-month rally that has doubled the price of oil. Last week, it rose above $73.

Automakers were hit by the U.S. evidence that manufacturing continues to wilt amid anemic consumer demand. Toyota Motor, the world's biggest automaker, fell 3.4%, and Honda (HMC Quote) retreated 4.1%.

In the U.S. on Monday, the Dow tumbled 187.13, or 2.1%, to 8,612.13, returning to a loss for the year. The broader S&P 500 index dropped 2.4% to 923.72, and the Nasdaq composite index sank 2.3%, to 1,816.38.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to modest declines Tuesday on Wall Street.

In currencies, the dollar's recent strength faded, falling to 96.45 yen from 97.63 yen. The euro rose to $1.3858 from 1.3776.