Global stocks were mostly lower Tuesday amid jitters about China's housing market and weakness in the country's currency, AP reported. China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.1 percent to 2,034.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.3 percent to 22,317.81. Singapore and Sydney also declined. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.4 percent to 15,051.60,. Futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 and Dow Jones industrial average both were down 0.1 percent. In Europe, Germany's DAX's declined 0.4 percent to 9,671.29 and France's CAC-40 shed 0.5 percent to 4,399.48. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.6 percent to 6,825.54. Asian markets were rattled by a deceleration in the rise of Chinese housing prices in January and weakness in China's currency, which has long been a one-way bet on slow steady appreciation. Seoul's Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 1,964.86. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.1 percent to 5,433.8 and New Zealand declined 0.2 percent to 5,322.05. Benchmark U.S. oil for April delivery was down 55 cents to $102.27 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 62 cents on Monday to close at $102.82. In currency markets, the euro was little changed at $1.3749 from $1.3736 late Monday. The dollar fell to 102.38 yen from 102.50 yen.
