BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets mostly fell Tuesday as signs that Europe will take longer than expected to set up a new authority to supervise European banks kept investors on the sidelines.
The creation of a European banking union is important to prevent any bank failures from torpedoing the finances of financially weak countries such as Spain or Italy. But a meeting among European finance ministers over the weekend underscored the lack of consensus on the details of such a union.
"It appears that markets have to wait longer than expected to get clarity on Greece, Spain and the banking supervision. This continued delay could put downward pressure on the euro and other risk assets," said Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne, Australia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent to 9,150.16. South Korea's Kospi was slightly up at 2,003.11. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 20,644.59. Benchmarks in Singapore, mainland China, Indonesia and Taiwan also fell. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 4,403.90.
Late last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve — faced with a struggling recovery in the world's biggest economy — announced plans to buy $40 billion of mortgage bonds a month for as long as necessary as part of a strategy to boost borrowing and spending. The Fed also extended its pledge to keep short-term interest rates low until 2015, a year longer than its previous target.
The size of the program buoyed confidence in the global economy, and stocks rallied. Since then, however, investors have begun to re-examine the big picture and to see substantial headwinds on the horizon.
"I think the outlook in the near term for the global economy is still fairly negative," said Peter Elston, strategist at Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore. "I suspect that further weakness is just around the corner, which might explain the greater than expected easing by the Fed."
Among individual stocks, Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group soared 20.2 percent after the company said it secured a new $4.5 billion credit facility to refinance its looming bank debts.
Fortescue requested a trading halt on Friday after its share price tumbled almost 14 percent on media reports that it was struggling to meet interest payments on its debt.
Wall Street dropped Monday after a survey suggested that conditions for New York manufacturers continued to weaken in September. That followed news from the Federal Reserve on Friday that U.S. industrial production fell in August by the largest amount in more than three years.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 percent to 13,553.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.3 percent to 1,461.19. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.2 percent to 3,178.67.
Benchmark oil for October delivery was up 39 cents to $97.01 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract finished up 69 cents to $99 per barrel in New York on Friday. The contract fell $2.38, or 2.4 percent, to finish at $96.62 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.
In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.3105 from $1.3107. The dollar fell to 78.63 yen from 78.74 yen.
