Asian Stocks Drop As Economic Worries Weigh

Most of the Asian stocks fell Monday as investor sentiment was weighed down by concerns of weakening global economy, which undermined the data from China showing lowering of inflation rate in September.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite dropped 0.52 percent or 10.91 points to 2094.02. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.19 percent or 40.33 points to 21096.10. Among major losers were Sands China Ltd (1.08 percent) and China Mobile Ltd (0.89 percent).

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was marginally up 0.02 percent or 1.56 points to 8535.68. Among major gainers were Chiyoda Corp (6.66 percent), Komatsu Ltd (3.62 percent) and Advantest Corp (3.22 percent).

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index fell 0.33 percent or 6.38 points to 1926.88. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd gained 0.46 percent and shares of Hyundai Motor Co dropped 1.75 percent.

India's BSE Sensex fell 0.39 percent or 73.58 points to 18601.60. Among the major losers were Sesa Goa (1.38 percent), Infosys (0.82 percent) and ICICI Bank (0.42 percent).

The rate of inflation in China slowed down in September from the previous month, showing signs of a gradual decline in price pressure to make room for monetary easing.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Monday show that the consumer price index of China rose 1.9 percent in September from a year earlier, down from 2 percent in August. The diminishing inflation should be good news, because it can help the government invigorate growth without much concern about rising prices.

However, the encouraging data from China was not able to lift market confidence, burdened by worries of worsening global economic growth, which could in turn affect the third quarter corporate earnings. Investors are focusing on the earning releases to be reported this week.

Also market players continue to have worries about the debt crisis affecting the euro zone with no progress from Spain on officially asking for bailout from the European Central Bank. In addition, lack of decision on announcing the next bailout tranche for Greece has also raised concerns about the financial instability faced by the euro zone.