Most gloomy on Asia's stock exchanges

A larger part of the leading Asian stock exchanges followed Wall Street and began the third day of trading on a negative note.

In Tokyo, the important Nikkei 225 index had fallen by 0.7 percent at lunchtime, while the broader Topix index had declined by 0.6 percent.

The same downbeat tones were heard from Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which fell by 0.9 percent.

Even in Shanghai, the good stock market mood was absent, with the composite index decreasing by 0.4 percent. Against the trend, the composite index in Shenzhen rose by a modest 0.3 percent.