Washington - US stocks declined Tuesday after producer prices surged and housing construction plummeted by the most in 17 years, prompting investor concerns that the United States has entered a prolonged period of low growth and high inflation.

Wholesale prices jumped 9.8 per cent in July from a year earlier, the Labour Department reported, while the Commerce Department said that housing starts dropped 11 per cent.

Wall Street warnings of fresh writedowns of financial assets related to the housing crisis also led banking stocks lower.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks fell by 2.1 per cent Tuesday to their lowest level in a year on continued pessimism over slowing economic growth.

The Hang Seng Index closed at 20,884 - a fall of 446 points on the previous day's trading. Turnover was 48.8 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.1 billion US dollars).

Analysts attributed the fall to increased concerns over the effect of the credit crisis on corporate earnings.

Property stocks fared the worst with Cheung Kong dropping 4.3 per cent to close at 102 Hong Kong dollars ahead of its first half year results later this week.

NSE Nifty was down by 51 points at 1 pm IST at 4341 while BSE Sensex was down by 188 points. Following weak global trend, Indian stock markets opened lower on Tuesday and slipped further during the first two hours of trading session. US Markets closed weak on Monday and Asian stocks opened lower on Tuesday.

In today’s session, Auto and Banking stocks were among major losers. IT Stocks were looking better compared to other sectors.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks lost more than 2 per cent Tuesday on overnight falls in the US market.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average tumbled 349.02 points in morning trading, or 2.65 per cent, to 12,816.43.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 31.19 points, or 2.47 per cent, at 1,263.75.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 110.10-15 yen, down from Monday's 5 pm quote of 110.25-26 yen.

Taipei - Taiwan's stockmarket plunged 2.72 per cent Monday amid bearish sentiment triggered by foreign fund outflows and a money laundering scandal allegedly implicating former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian and his family, dealers said.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which opened lower with weak momentum, extended its downward trend to end at 7,000.74, a plunge of 195.76 points or 2.72 per cent, from the previous trading session.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex, which opened with a loss of 43.04 points at 14,681.14, continued to trade in the positive terrain on account of good buying action witnessed in index heavyweights.

Bankex and IT index outpaced other segments. The counters gained marginally 1.47% and 1.13% respectively.   

At 11:54 am, the 30-share index Sensex gained 60.09 points at 14,784.27, after touching a high of 14,824.92 and a low of 14,602.12.

Meanwhile the broad based Nifty stood at 4,430.45, up 0.25 points, after hitting a high of 4,447.40 and a low of 4,384.65.