Asian Markets Fall On Euro Zone, China Concerns

Most of the Asian markets fell Monday as investor confidence was weighed down by the revival of concerns over the debt crisis affecting the euro zone and the economic slowdown faced by China.

Chinese Shanghai Composite fell 0.95 percent or 1 9.20 points to 2007.49. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.49 percent or 101.49 points to 20633.45. Among the major losers were PetroChina Co Ltd (1.57 percent) and HSBC Holdings PLC (1.21 percent).

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index dropped 0.74 percent or 14.74 points to 1987.63. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd advanced 0.38 percent and those of Hyundai Motor Co fell 0.21 percent.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 0.65 percent or 59.65 points to 9050.35. Among the major losers were Pioneer Corp (4.66 percent), Canon Inc (4.11 percent) and Mazda Motor Corp (4.04 percent).

India's BSE Sensex marginally gained 0.08 percent or 14.09 points to 18766.92. Among the major gainers were Bharat Petroleum (1.55 percent), Tata Power Co (1.27 percent) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (1 percent).

Market sentiment turned negative to know that disagreement continued to prevail between Germany and France over the formation of a banking union as part of the measures to overcome the debt burden faced by the euro zone.

During their meeting at Ludwigsburg in Germany Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande gave statements which clearly brought forward the discord between the two countries over the plan to have a banking union.

Stressing that he supported a banking union, Hollande pointed out that its structure should be prepared at the earliest.

However, Merkel made it clear that she was against doing anything very quickly. She stood for taking time to make sure that the banking union had a framework which could deliver good quality results.

Earlier this month, the European Union put forward the proposal for the European Central Bank to be granted full supervision of all the euro zone banks from January 2014, which has been seen as a key step towards a region wide banking union. This step has been announced as part of the measures to attain full fiscal union.

Meanwhile, market participants are concerned to note that China hasn’t yet announced any policy measures though there are clear indications that its economy is weakening. The preliminary HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index released last week showed that China's manufacturing activity continued to contract in September. This has increased the urgency to have monetary easing measures to revive economic growth.