Asian markets start lower on poor global cues

The Asian markets continue to trade in the red after falling for the second consecutive day as fresh fears about the spread of Europe’s debt crisis rattled investors, with financial stocks among the hardest hit.

The top losers among the Asian indices in the morning trades are Hang Seng and Seoul Composite down 2% each followed by Shanghai Composite,Jakarta Composite,Nikkei,Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted losing 1% each.

Hong Kong stocks zoomed downward in early trading reacting to the loses in US, Europe and Japan. The draggers were the resources, property and exporter shares pushing the index below the 22,000 level.