Asian stocks tumble to 7-month lows

SYDNEY, Oct 13 (Reuters): Asian stocks stumbled to seven-month lows on Monday, while crude oil prices were pinned near a four-year trough as promising trade numbers out of China failed to cheer a market still worried about faltering global growth.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8 per cent, extending last week's 1.1 per cent drop.

Mainland Chinese stocks skidded 1.1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.7 per cent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index and South Korea's KOSPI both slipped 0.6 per cent.

Tokyo's Nikkei was spared the pain for now thanks to a public holiday in Japan.

The declines in Asian markets came after US stocks skidded 1.2 per cent on Friday and Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, jumped to a near two-year high.

Investors have been cutting back on risk assets in earnest with Europe staring at the prospects of a recession, Japan's economy floundering, China's expansion slowing and the Federal Reserve on track to end its bond-buying stimulus soon.

Asia's MSCI index has fallen every week in the past five and is now down 10 per cent from a near seven-year peak set early last month.

Yet figures on Monday showing Chinese exports rose 15.3 per cent from a year earlier, while imports unexpectedly climbed 7 per cent did little to restore market confidence.

"I'm still a little bit hesitant in becoming very bullish on export growth, simply looking at the state of the global economy," said Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at RBS in Hong Kong.

IMF member countries on Saturday called for bold action to bolster the global economic recovery and flagged Europe as a top concern.