Asia stocks hobbled by growth anxiety

Asian shares sagged on Thursday after a retreat on Wall Street and falling crude oil prices rekindled investor anxiety over slowing global growth, while a mixed picture on Chinese manufacturing failed to impress markets. Japan's Nikkei share average fell 0.4 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.3 per cent. European shares look set to slide, with spreadbetters expecting France's CAC 40 to fall as much as 0.8 per cent, Germany's DAX 0.7 per cent and Britain's 0.6 per cent. The flash HSBC/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) edged up to 50.4 from a final reading of 50.2 in September, just a hair's breadth from the 50.3 reading forecast by analysts. But the level of output in factories fell to a five-month low of 50.7, just above the 50-point level that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis, pointing to a still-shaky economy. Wall Street shares slid on Wednesday after big gains in the past few days, with S&P 500 Index falling 0.7 percent. Oil prices flirted near multi-year lows hit last week, after data showed a second consecutive weekly jump in US crude stockpiles, according to Reuters.