Hong Kong---Asian markets mostly fell Tuesday following losses on Wall Street, with Shanghai losing more than one percent a day after hitting a seven-year high.
Hopes of a deal between Greece and its creditors over its bailout terms provided a measure of support for the euro after Athens reshuffled its negotiating team following months of fruitless talks.
Shanghai retreated 1.13 percent, or 51.18 points, to 4,476.21 while Hong Kong was flat, edging up 9.16 points to 28,442.75. The two indexes have been surging on hopes that China will unveil more monetary easing measures to boost the slowing economy.
"The (Shanghai) market will become more volatile as the index gets higher," Jimmy Zuo, a Shenzhen-based trader at Guosen Securities, told Bloomberg News.
"There's a strong belief that disappointing data and earnings will persuade the government to do more to safeguard the economy."
Sydney fell 0.57 percent, or 34.2 points, to close at 5,948.5 and Seoul slipped 0.46 percent, or 9.87 points, to 2,147.67.
However, Tokyo added 0.38 percent, or 75.63 points, to 20,058.95 as investors struck an optimistic note ahead of a raft of earnings results by major Japanese firms.
The three main indexes on Wall Street ended lower on profit-taking Monday after Friday's record closes for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.41 percent and the Nasdaq fell 0.63 percent, while the Dow eased 0.23 percent.
On currency markets the dollar bought 119.10 yen in Asian trade, up from 119.05 yen in New York.
The latest round of weak US data has almost ended talk of a mid-summer interest rate rise. Traders are now awaiting the end Wednesday of a two-day policy meeting by the US Federal Reserve, hoping it will give a clue about its timetable for raising rates.
That will be followed by a meeting of the Bank of Japan, with expectations high that it will hold off any further easing of monetary policy.
AFP
