By V. Phani Kumar, Colin Ng and Wei-Zhe Tan HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Asian shares fell Tuesday after Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on U.S. government debt, highlighting fiscal challenges faced by the world's largest economy and leading to a sell-off in global stock markets. Many resource-sector stocks declined as crude-oil and base-metal prices lost ground on the ratings agency's warning, while regional chip makers were also hurt by Texas Instruments' profit warning. Trading volumes were light ahead of the Good Friday and Easter holidays in some regional markets, with some analysts also viewing the day's sell-off as a temporary reaction. Peter Lai, director at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong, described the S&P move to lower its outlook on the U.S.' AAA rating to negative from stable as "a symbolic action." "This kind of impact is only a short-term impact. In the medium- to long-term, it should mean nothing because we still have to use the U.S. dollar," Lai said. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.2% to 9,441.03, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.4% to 4,793.30, China's Shanghai Composite shed 1.9% to 2,999.04, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.3% to 23,520.62, Taiwan's Taiex slid 0.9% to 8,638.55 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.7% to 2,122.68. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 6 points. Credit Agricole analysts said the "risk-off" mode in markets was also exacerbated by the euro-zone debt crisis, which shows "no signs of abating, amid market concerns over the risk of a Greek debt restructuring." The yen's strength after the S&P announcement on the U.S. ratings outlook weighed on Tokyo shares, sending exporters such as Canon and Toyota Motor down by 1.8% and 3.1%, respectively. "Although it will not lead to an immediate downgrade, the move was a negative surprise and Japan also needs to be cautious since it's a wake-up call on fiscal deficits," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities. Shares of technology firms dropped after U.S. chip maker Texas Instruments said its first-quarter results and second-quarter guidance were hurt by the March 11 earthquake in Japan. Renesas Electronics tumbled 5.4% and Elpida Memory sank 4.8%. "Texas Instruments' results were worse than expected, and it has wide implications for sectors that are either reliant on chip makers or are its customers," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, strategist at Okasan Securities. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics overcame early losses it suffered following news that Apple had filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court, claiming the South Korean handset maker copied the U.S. maker's popular iPhone smartphones. The stock finished 0.9% higher. Also helping to support the South Korean market, shares of LG Display and LG Electronics rose 6.2% and 2.5%, respectively, on hopes of improved second-quarter earnings. Resource stocks skidded after several commodity prices fell in the wake of the S&P downgrade. In Sydney, BHP Billiton dropped 1.7% and Rio Tinto gave up 2.3%. In Hong Kong, Cnooc fell 2.1%, while Aluminum Corp. of China and Jiangxi Copper tumbled 3.9% and 3.4%, respectively, in Shanghai. Shares of Newcrest Mining fell 0.8% in Sydney after it said gold production could be 4.4% below its previous forecasts for the year because of rain in Australia and Papua New Guinea and unrest in Ivory Coast. May Nymex crude-oil futures were down 92 cents at $106.20 per barrel on Globex. Spot gold was at $1,493.40 per troy ounce, down $2.50 from its New York settlement Monday. Elsewhere in the region, India's Sensex fell 0.2%, Indonesian stocks rose 0.2%, Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 0.6% and Thailand's SET rose 0.5%. Earlier in the day, New Zealand's NZX 50 lost 0.7% and Philippine shares finished 0.6% lower. In foreign-exchange markets, the euro recouped some of its losses against the U.S. dollar from the previous day and was recently up at $1.4252 from $1.4235 in late New York trade Monday; it was also fetching 117.54 yen from Y117.68. The dollar was at Y82.44, from Y82.68. "Global systemic risks are unraveling the defence barriers of ample financial liquidity and strong cyclical numbers, shifting investors' focus back towards underpriced structural risks in previously buoyant global risk markets," Brown Brothers Harriman analysts wrote in a research note. Lead Japanese government bond futures were up 0.18 at 139.54 points, helped by U.S. Treasurys' gains Monday and the yen's recent strength. The yield on the cash 10-year JGB was down two basis points at 1.230%.

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