Asian stocks fall on earnings, shrug off China data; Nikkei down 0.43%

Investing.com - Asian stocks fell on Tuesday mainly on the coattails of U.S. third-quarter earnings.
Investors shrugged off China's HSBC Flash PMI, which rose to 49.1 in October, a three-month high.

During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.02%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was down 0.73%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.43%.

Third-quarter earnings season is underway in the U.S., and disappointments continue to grab headlines, pummeling stocks in Asia, home to exporters that thrive on U.S. economic health.

Google, Microsoft, General Electric and McDonald's disappointed investors last week, while other big companies like Caterpillar met expectations but cut earnings forecasts.

Earlier, U.S. chemical maker DuPont reported that third-quarter earnings excluding items came to USD0.44 per share, down 37% from USD0.69 per share during the same period a year earlier.

Revenue dropped to USD7.34 billion from USD8.14 billion, while the company also announced it was cutting 1,500 positions.

Elsewhere, conglomerate 3M earlier reported third-quarter earnings excluding items of USD1.65 per share, up from USD1.52 per share a year earlier.

Revenue fell slightly to USD7.50 billion from USD7.53 billion a year earlier.

Meanwhile in Europe, another key Asian export market, uncertainty over Spain's plans to seek a bailout or not pushed Asian equities down as well.

Moody's slapped credit-rating downgrades on the Spanish regions of Andalucia, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and Murcia.

The news sent stock falling by stoking already growing uncertainty as whether or not Spain will request a bailout, though the currency regained some composure in Asian trading.

Requesting financial assistance would allow Spain to tap the European Central Bank's bond-buying program, which would lower yields in Spanish government debt auctions and ease credit conditions in the country.

Furthermore, the Bank of Spain said the country’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.4% in the third quarter, leaving country cemented in recession.

The Spanish monetary authority also stressed that it could not rule out missing deficit targets  later this year.

Hong Kong, top decliners included Esprit Holdings, down 12.46%, Hengan INTL, down 3.20%, and CNOOC, down 2.02%.

In Australia, top decliners included Decmil Group, down 10.03%, WorleyParsons Ltd., down 7.54%, and Linc Energy, down 6.98%.

European stock futures indicated a higher opening.

France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a gain of 0.45%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures pointed to a gain of 0.37%. Meanwhile in the U.K., FTSE 100 futures were up 0.29%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.28%, while the S&P 500 futures were up 0.37%.