The USA dollar fell on Monday, as appetite for risk waned amid downbeat Chinese factory surveys, which also lent support to the low-yielding euro and the safe-haven yen. While China has so far avoided a hard landing, activity in China's manufacturing sector contracted in October for a third straight month, an official survey showed on Sunday, fuelling fears the economy may still be losing momentum in the fourth quarter despite a raft of stimulus measures. With most central banks except the U.S. Federal Reserve committed to an easing bias, focus now falls on this week's run of USA data, including the all-important non-farm payrolls due on Friday, and how they could affect the Fed's stance on hiking interest rates. The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange had tumbled 399.86 points to 18,683.24 by the close, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares sank 2.00 percent, or 31.23 points, to 1,526.97. South Korea's Kospi edged 0.1 percent higher to 2,030.72. "The October FOMC statement was somewhat more hawkish than our expectations, and with the assessment on global risk having been removed, we think there is a clear attempt by the FOMC to keep a December hike on the table". German 10-year yields rose 4.4 basis points to 0.57 per cent. Italian and Spanish equivalents rose 8.7 and 8.5 bps to 1.57 and 1.77 per cent respectively. The lira jumped as much as 3.1 percent Monday, putting it back at levels last seen in mid-August. The Islamist-rooted AK Party won more than 49 percent of the vote, according to local media reports with all the ballots counted. Speculation over central bank stimulus continued to permeate through markets, with the euro extending gains into a third day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that it's still an "open question" whether stimulus needs to be increased to bolster the economy. The People's Bank of China said at the end of last week that it's looking at loosening capital controls as part of its push to win reserve-currency status from the worldwide Monetary Fund. Copper in London lost 0.4 percent to $5,093 a metric ton. China's official purchasing managers index remained at 49.8 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday (Nov 1), compared with an estimate of 50, the line between expansion and contraction. But an interest rate cut announced last month by Beijing that was its sixth cut in the past year is expected to help mitigate economic weakness. US crude was down 0.5 percent at $46.36 a barrel. This year's growth target was about 7 percent. Spot gold touched a 4-week low of $1,134.60 an ounce, hurt by lingering worries of a potential rate hike by the Fed. The Inside Korea -

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