Asia stocks lower after U.S. data disappoints; Nikkei ends down 0.3%

Investing.com - Asian stock markets were broadly lower during late Asian trade on Tuesday, as appetite for riskier assets weakened amid renewed concerns over the U.S. economic outlook.

During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was little changed, Australia’s ASX/200 Index settled 0.6% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index ended down 0.3%.

U.S. equities ended Monday’s session lower after the Institute for Supply Management said in a report that its index of U.S. purchasing managers unexpectedly contracted in November, underlining concerns over the U.S. economic outlook.

The ISM index fell to 49.5 from 51.7 in October, the lowest reading since July 2009.

Investors also remained concerned over the looming fiscal cliff in the U.S., approximately USD600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1, unless a divided Congress and the White House can work out a compromise in the four weeks left before the deadline.

There are fears that U.S. lawmakers will repeat the same political divisiveness that led Standard & Poor's to downgrade the U.S.’s AAA rating in August 2011 and tip the country back into a recession.

In Australia, the benchmark ASX/200 Index came under selling pressure after the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its benchmark interest rate to the lowest level since the 2009 global financial crisis, citing a weakening global growth outlook.

The RBA cut its benchmark interest rate to 3% from 3.25%, in line with market expectations.

Miners were broadly lower, with gold producer Newcrest Mining slumping 1.8%, iron ore maker Fortescue Metals Group dropping 2.4%, while mining giant BHP Billiton declined 0.8%.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the Nikkei came off the previous session’s seven-month high, as exporters came under pressure from a bout of profit taking sparked by the weak U.S. data.

Tech exporters Hitachi and Nikon lost 1.95 and 3.1% respectively, while digital camera maker Canon declined 0.9%.

The Nikkei has rallied nearly 9% in the past two weeks, with exporters amongst the most notable gainers, as ongoing weakness in the yen boosted the outlook for export earnings.

The yen has been weighed by speculation the country’s main opposition leader, Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe will win the upcoming general election on December 16.

Abe said recently that the Bank of Japan should employ unlimited monetary easing until inflation reaches 2%.

Elsewhere, shares in Hong Kong swung between small gains and losses.

Index heavyweights HSBC Holdings and China Mobile provided support to the market, up 0.5% and 1.3% respectively.

Hong Kong’s blue-chip exporters were mostly lower, with clothing retailer Esprit Holdings down 2.6% and footwear firm Belle International Holdings dropping 2.75%.

Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a modestly lower open.

The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a loss of 0.2% at the open, France’s CAC 40 futures shed 0.1%, London’s FTSE 100 futures eased down 0.2%, while Germany's DAX futures pointed to a drop of 0.2% at the open.

Later in the day, Spain was to publish official data on the change in the number of unemployed people, while finance ministers from the European Union were to hold talks in Brussels.