Asia Stocks Fall As China Easing Hopes Dim

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4 percent to 1,925.59. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.1 percent to 4,483.40. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,098.70 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index lost 0.7 percent at 859.47. Benchmarks in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines rose.

Concerns about global economic growth ⿿ especially the direction of China's economy ⿿ hurt Australian mining shares since Australia is a major exporter of iron ore and other minerals to China. Newcrest Mining fell 2.1 percent and Fortescue Metals Group tumbled 3.4 percent.

Falling gold prices hurt shares of related companies. Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Co., China's largest gold miner, shed 1.6 percent.

Still, investors found deals among Japanese blue chips. Honda Motor Corp. jumped 3.9 percent. Toyota Motor Corp. gained 2.1 percent. Toshiba Corp. rose 2.3 percent.

"Decent exporters are being bought and I think that makes sense," said Benjamin Collett, head of Japanese equities at Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

Benchmark oil for November delivery was down 29 cents to $91.57 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2963 from $1.2958 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 78.55 yen from 78.38 yen.

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