Asian stocks lost ground Tuesday with Shanghai leading the way. Sydney, Tokyo, and Seoul ended lower as they tracked Wall Street's weaker close amid fears U.S. lawmakers may let a federal home buyer tax credit expire. Investors were concerned the move would remove a crucial incentive in the still struggling housing sector. Australian stocks AU%3bXJO loading... Quote | Chart | News | Profile [AU;XJO Loading... () ] slipped to close at 4753.5 points. Mining and energy firms led the decline, in line with weaker commodities prices. Miner BHP Billiton fell 2.2 percent and rival Rio Tinto lost 2.8 percent as worries about the strength of the global economic recovery and a firmer dollar hit oil, gold and metals prices overnight. Woodside Petroleum slid 2.5 percent while gold miner Newcrest fell 3.1 percent. WorleyParsons slumped 8 percent after the mining and energy services group said its first quarter earnings were weaker than expected and first-half profit would be well below the same period last year. The financial sector pared early losses ahead of results from top banks. NAB and ANZ retreated 0.2 percent each. The former reports earnings on Wednesday and ANZ the following day. CMC Markets analyst David Taylor said that while Australian resource stocks were more leveraged to China's economic growth than that of the U.S., any faltering in risk appetite due developments in the U.S. would hit commodity prices indirectly. "In that light, (the slip in commodities prices) last night was definitely a little wake-up call to be just a little more cautious about the market," Taylor said. Wall Street Closing Numbers New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.7 percent to 3,192.4. Tokyo Declines, Seoul Trims Losses Japan's Nikkei 225 Average JP%3bN225 loading... Quote | Chart | News | Profile [JP;N225 Loading... () ] ended the session in the red, dented by shares of exporters as they took their cue from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark index fell to 10,212.4 points while the broader Topix declined 1.67 percent to 895.48 points. Blue-chip exporters Honda and Canon slid 1.9 percent each. After the bell, Honda reported smaller than expected quarterly loss and nearly tripled its annual profit forecast as government stimulus fueled car sales. Shares of Astellas Pharma slumped 6.7 percent, after a brokerage downgrade and the firm's announcement it would terminate the development of an arthritis drug. Lower oil prices hurt energy-related stocks and trading houses, with Nippon Oil down 4.3 percent and Mitsubishi Corp losing 4.7 percent. Fujifilm got a boost from a brokerage upgrade on expectations of better than expected earnings in the second quarter. Shares of the digital camera maker climbed 5.5 percent. Shares of Hokuto, a mushroom grower,and Sekisui Chemical gained ground after both companies raised their profit forecasts. Seoul shares declined, as memory chip makers such as Samsung Electronics but gains in autos limited the market's slide. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) pared earlier losses to finish down 0.46 percent at at 1,649.5 points. Analyst said investors eyed both domestic and U.S. economic data, and the movement of the won. Hyundai Motor rose 2.6 percent and affiliate Kia gained 2.1 percent as they continued to rally following strong quarterly earnings, and and a softer won eased concerns about the price competitiveness of exports. Financials including KB Financial Group came under pressure, while oil's retreat weighed on refiners such as SK Energy. Shipbuilders were also bruised, hurt by market talk that major Taiwanese dry-bulk shipping firm TMT may cancel ship orders due to a continued downturn in the sector. Shares of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering declined 3 percent. The Taiex shed 0.1 percent as Asustek Computer and other tech firms that reported better-than-expected results helped cushion the index's fall. Greater China Markets Slide Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.9 percent, led by property and bank stocks. Sino Land and Henderson Land dropped over 4 percent each, on news authorities will implement measures such as capping mortgage loan values, to slow a surge in luxury property prices. Insurer China Life gained ground on optimism that rising financial markets would sustain long-term growth. Shares of rival Ping An also rose, ahead of the release of third-quarter results later in the day. Stocks on the mainland also fell, with the key Shanghai Composite down 2.8 percent as bank and energy-linked stocks declined. PetroChina shed 2.2 percent and Bank of China fell 1.9 percent. Singapore's STI tracked the rest of the region lower, with the index retreating 0.8 percent. Malaysia's KLCI closed flat, with steelmakers and builders declining.

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