Most Asia markets thrashed over economic fears

Shipping-, resource-related stocks tumble, but gold miners climb

By V. Phani Kumar and Sarah Turner, MarketWatch

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Most Asian shares were beaten down Wednesday as mounting concerns about slowing global growth and shaky sovereign debt led investors to dump equities in favor of investments perceived to be safer, such as gold.

Extending losses suffered Tuesday on signs that global manufacturing was slowing, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average /quotes/zigman/715506 JP:NIK -2.15% ended the day 2.1% lower at 9,637.14, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index /quotes/zigman/1653884 AU:XJO -2.27% skidded 2.3% to 4,332.8.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index /quotes/zigman/2622475 HK:HSI -1.91% fell 1.9% to 21,992.72, and South Korea’s Kospi KR:0100 -2.59% sank 2.6% to 2,066.26. Taiwan’s Taiex gave up 1.5% to 8,456.86 while China’s Shanghai Composite index /quotes/zigman/1859015 CN:000001 -0.03% ended little changed at 2,678.48. full stories...