Bangkok, Dec 14 (AP) Stocks were mostly lower in Asia on Tuesday after Wall Street retreated from recent record levels on weakness in technology shares.

Hong Kong's benchmark slipped on persisting worries over property developers. Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai also declined.

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Shares in Shanghai-based Shimao Group Holdings sank 12.6 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday on concerns about its financial situation.

Shimao is among many property companies facing tighter controls on debt levels that have caught some heavily leveraged companies short on cash to meet debt obligations.

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China Evergrande Group's shares gave up 6.4 per cent. Evergrande is one of China's largest developers, with over USD 300 billion in debt.

“Recent scrutiny has gripped hold of Shimao Group Holdings, China's 13th largest developer by contracted sales, on its liquidity position and debt-servicing ability. That may continue to put the property sector on watch today," said Yeap Jun Rong of IG.

Another worry is China's first reported case of the omicron variant of coronavirus, Yeap added.

Chinese leaders have promised tax cuts and support for entrepreneurs to shore up slumping economic growth as the country grapples with bankruptcies and defaults among real estate developers caused by the campaign to rein in surging debt.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.3 per cent to 23,642.70 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.9 per cent to 28,391.91. In Seoul, the Kospi fell 0.7 per cent to 2,982.00.

The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3 per cent to 3,669.84, while the S&P/ASX 200 edged less than 0.1 per cent lower, to 7,376.70.

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent to 4,669.97, giving back some of its gains after the benchmark index climbed to an all-time high Friday ending Wall Street's best week since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 0.9%, to 35,650.95. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 1.4% to 15,413.28.

The Russell 2000 also gave up 1.4 per cent, to 2,180.50 as small-company stocks fared worse than the broader market in a signal that investors are concerned about economic growth.

Harley-Davidson rose 4.7 per cent after saying it will take its electric motorcycle division public through a blank-check company, valuing the enterprise that has been part of the motorcycle maker for 10 years at USD 1.77 billion.

The market's pullback, with the S&P 500 fresh off its 67th all-time high this year, comes as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest economic and interest rate policy update on Wednesday.

Wall Street will get an inflation update on Tuesday when the Labour Department releases its Producer Price Index for November, which shows how inflation is impacting costs for businesses.

That report will be especially important with the Fed meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Markets expect the central bank will announce plans to accelerate its timetable for reducing bond purchases aimed at keeping long-term interest rates low.

Stocks have been mostly pushing higher, despite a volatile stretch in late November as worries about the omicron variant of the coronavirus roiled markets. Some of those concerns eased last week amid encouraging signs that the variant may be less dangerous than delta.

Several big pharmaceutical companies, including COVID-19 vaccine makers Moderna and Pfizer were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 Monday. Moderna jumped 5.8 per cent for the biggest gain in the index. Pfizer rose 4.6 per cent following news it is buying Arena Pharmaceuticals.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was steady at 1.42 per cent after falling to 1.41 per cent Monday from 1.49 per cent late Friday.

That weighed on banks, which rely on higher bond yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. Capital One fell 2.9 per cent.

In other trading, US benchmark crude lost 44 cents to USD 70.85 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 38 cents to USD 71.29 on Monday.

Brent crude, the basis for international pricing of crude, lost 38 cents to USD 74.01 per barrel.

The US dollar rose to 113.59 Japanese yen from 113.57 late Monday. The euro slipped to USD 1.1277 from USD 1.1285. (AP)

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AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)