Asian stocks declined
on Wednesday amid news about bigger than expected drop in house prices and
rising Italian borrowing costs. Increase in US consumer confidence did not
manage to offset losses. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.7%, Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 index gave up 1.1%, and South Korea's Kospi fell
1.2%. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average tumbled 0.1% while Shanghai Composite
was down 0.7%.