A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index fallen 135.95 points to 9914.44 in Tokyo Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Asian stock markets on Wednesday followed Wall Street into negative territory after the Federal Reserve voiced concern about U.S. job growth but appeared to refrain from taking steps to prop up the economy. The Nikkei index briefly slipped to 9,886.34, its lowest level in a month. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for public holidays. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A man walks in front of the electronic stock board of a securities firm showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index fallen 135.95 points to 9914.44 in Tokyo Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Asian stock markets on Wednesday followed Wall Street into negative territory after the Federal Reserve voiced concern about U.S. job growth but appeared to refrain from taking steps to prop up the economy. The Nikkei index briefly slipped to 9,886.34, its lowest level in a month. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for public holidays. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets fell Thursday after a weak Spanish bond auction inflamed concerns about the European debt crisis and hopes faded for more help for the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.
Benchmark oil rose above $102 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4 percent to 9,775.21, after hitting its lowest intraday point since March 8 at 9,692.70.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.1 percent to 20,564.30 while falling commodity prices dragged Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 0.4 percent to 4,317.
But South Korea's Kospi reversed course after a negative open, rising 0.2 percent to 2,023.04, and mainland Chinese shares jumped after a three-day holiday. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4 percent to 2,293.89.
The debt crisis in Europe flared anew Wednesday after a disappointing auction of government debt in Spain signaled investor confidence in the country's finances is weakening. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 125 points, and the price of gold plunged to its lowest level since January.
That compounded worries that arose Tuesday, when minutes released from the March meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee gave no hint of a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, to support the U.S. economy.
The Fed has already carried out two rounds of bond-buying, most recently in August 2010, to drive down long-term interest rates. Low bond yields generally encourage investors to shift money to buying stocks.
"The recurring fear is that Fed quantitative easing through asset purchases is off the table for now. Basiscally the Fed pulled the rug from under investors' feet and seems there is a lot of profit-taking now," said Stan Shamu, market analyst with IG Markets in Melbourne.
Sentiment was further hurt by the release of a Chinese services sector index by HSBC that showed a slight slowdown in service sector growth, even though the official reading Tuesday pointed to acceleration, said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist for Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.
For the month of March, the HSBC index fell by 0.6 point to 53.3 points. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
Meanwhile, Japanese export shares suffered as a strengthening yen threatened to crimp their repatriated profits. Honda Motor Corp. fell 1.7 percent and electronics giant Sharp Corp. lost 1.9 percent. Nikon Corp. tumbled 2.9 percent.
Plunging metals prices sent mining and materials shares lower. In Australia, global mining giants Rio Tinto Ltd. lost 1.9 percent and BHP Billiton was 1 percent down.
Bank stocks, which typically decline when the European debt crisis flares, dropped sharply. Hong Kong were Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world's biggest bank by market value, fell 1.8 percent. Japan's Mizuho Financial Group fell 1.5 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 1 percent at 13,074.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 index finished down 1 percent at 1,398.96. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.5 percent to 3,068.09.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 86 cents to $102.33 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.54 to finish at $101.47 a barrel in New York on Wednesday. It had not closed below $102 per barrel since Feb. 15.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3154 from $1.3139 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 82.26 yen from 82.58 yen.
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