Asian shares slip as European woes persist

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly fell Friday and the euro sat at near-two year lows as weak European data added to pessimism after this week's disappointing summit on saving Greece from leaving the eurozone.

Positive leads from Wall Street and European markets were unable to provide a lift as Asian indexes gave up the gains made since the start of the year.

Tokyo was flat by the break, Hong Kong was 0.35 percent lower while Shanghai was off 0.15 percent and Sydney eased 0.41 percent but Seoul gained 0.36 percent.

As traders digested the outcome of Wednesday's summit in Brussels -- which laid bare the divisions between Germany and France rather than solve Athens' problems -- a string of data highlighted the woeful state of Europe's economy.

The latest surveys of eurozone business confidence showed the worst monthly fall in May for nearly three years, to 45.9 points on the Markit PMI index from 46.7 in April. Anything less than 50 signals a slowdown.

In Germany, the backbone of Europe's economic might, business confidence fell to a six-month low while a French leading index for manufacturing activity fell to the lowest level for 37 months.

And in non-euro member Britain, data showed that the recession was deeper than previously thought, with the economy shrinking 0.3 percent between January and March, worse than the prior estimate for a 0.2-percent contraction.

The euro bought $1.2540 and 99.87 yen in early Asian trade, compared with $1.2532 and 99.74 yen in New York late Thursday. The common currency sank to $1.2516 in New York, its lowest since July 2010.

The dollar was trading at 79.65 yen against 79.59 yen.

Global investors are increasingly concerned that Greece will end up exiting the euro as a June 17 election is expected to see a win for anti-austerity parties who have said they will tear up a bailout deal signed with the EU and International Monetary Fund. (AFP)