MW: Asia stocks lower early on; banks, real estate retreat
By Chris Oliver
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares declined on Tuesday, with Japanese real estate and banking firms leading the action to the downside in Tokyo, while regional commodity stocks traded mixed to lower following overnights falls in crude oil prices. Light sweet crude-oil futures for December were up 18 cents to $55.13 a barrel in early Tokyo electronic trading Tuesday. Of regional indexes, the Nikkei 225 index was down 2.5% at 8,309.54, South Korea's Kospi index was down 1.5% at 1,062.60, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% to 3,628.20, and New Zealand's NZX-50 index was off 0.7% at 2,721.42.
