(RTTNews) - Wednesday in Asia, the Australian and the New Zealanddollars declined against their major opponents as a slide in most Asian stocks prompted risk averse traders to flee from higher-yielding currencies. Asian stock markets mostly traded in negative territory today with the overnight fall on Wall Street on the back of an unexpected decline in the U.S. existing home sales in May triggering concerns about the pace of economic recovery. A few markets did rebound amid cautious trades after a weak start, but faltered again due to lack of support at higher levels. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.87%, South Korea's Kospi Composite fell 0.33%, Taiwan's weighted average dropped 0.40%, Australia's All ordinaries index slumped 1.57% and China's Shanghai composite was down 1.07%. However, New Zealand's NZX-50 was flat at the closing. An unexpected drop in U.S. existing home sales in May raised questions regarding the sustainability of the economic recovery after the removal of government stimulus. The National Association of Realtors reported yesterday that existing home sales fell by 2.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.66 million units in May from an upwardly revised 5.79 million unit rate in April. The drop in sales came as surprise to economists, who had expected sales to rise to a 6.10 million unit rate from the 5.77 million unit rate originally reported for the previous month. In New Zealand, the statistics agency reported a seasonally adjusted current account deficit of NZ$1.29 billion in the March quarter, which is NZ$1.63 billion smaller than the December quarter deficit of NZ$2.92 billion. Economists had expected a NZ$0.55 billion shortfall. The New Zealand dollar slumped to a 6-day low of 63.54 against the yen around 2:15 am ET and the next likely support for the pair is seen around the 63.10 level. The kiwi-yen pair, which closed yesterday's deals at 63.82, is presently quoted at 63.72. The New Zealand currency also fell to a 5-day low of 0.7031 against the US dollar and a 2-day low of 1.7457 against the euro at this time and this may be compared to yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7045 and 1.7438, respectively. On the downside, the kiwi may find target levels at 0.7020 against the greenback and 1.7650 versus the euro. German consumer sentiment index for July logged a reading of 3.5, unchanged from June, a monthly survey from GfK Group showed today. That was in contrast to expectations for a decline to 3.3 points.

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