Asian shares ease ahead of China flash HSBC PMI

Stocks in Asia fell early Tuesday, as investors throughout the region were cautious ahead of Chinese manufacturing data later in the day. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3%, led lower by the materials sector. China is Australia's largest trading partner so worries over the pace of China's economic growth weigh heavily on the Australian dollar and iron-ore producers. Iron-ore miner BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) was down 1.7%, Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) tumbled 1.2% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was off 2.2%, after the commodity fell to a fresh five-year low US$79.80 a ton on Monday. Markets in Tokyo were closed for the Autumn Equinox, a national holiday in Japan. Overnight, U.S. stocks fell on after existing U.S. home sales numbers disappointed investors. The Dow 30 fell 0.62%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.80%, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.14%. The National Association of Realtors reported earlier that existing home sales in the US unexpectedly fell 1.8% to an annual unit rate of 5.05 million in August. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1% to 5.20 million units, according to investing.com