Asian Markets Mostly Lower as China Stocks Fall

Tokyo (AP) - Asian markets were mostly lower Tuesday as a tumble in Chinese stocks tempered optimism, U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa's earnings.

A slew of U.S. companies release quarterly results in the coming weeks, and Alcoa's results spurred hopes that the earnings season will provide encouraging signs of recovery in the world's largest economy.

But the news from China was less encouraging with the property price decline for the first time in 18 months, a sign that the government tightening measures are to have effect. This is good news for politics, which hope to avoid that the property bubble but also raised concerns among investors that China's rapid rebound in the global crisis may be slow.

The Shanghai composite index retreated 1.8 percent of 2,459.65 as investors sell property developers and banks that have lent heavily to property sector.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was off 0.2 percent at 9,533.33 and South Korea Kospi was little changed at 1,734.96.

Elsewhere, Australia's S & P / ASX 200 dropped 0.4 percent 4,392.20 while the markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand rose.

New York Monday, stocks ended just a little higher as investors grew cautious before the second quarter revenue reports.

But they got some good news after trading ended, when Alcoa reported upbeat results. Industrial giant launched earnings season reporting net income of $ 136 million, or 13 cents share, for the quarter ending June 30. That compared with a loss of $ 454 million, or 47 cents share, a year ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent 10,216.27. The Standard & Poor 's 500 index increased by 0.1 percent, to 1,078.75, while the NASDAQ composite index rose 1.91, or 0.1 percent, to 2,198.36.

The currencies, the dollar fell to 88.49 yen at 88.63 yen late Monday. Euro slipped to $ 1.2588 from $ 1.2591.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 30 cents at $ 74.65 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York mercantile exchange. The contract lost $ 1.14 to settle $ 74.95 on Monday.