HONG KONG, June 1: Asian markets fell on Friday and the euro hit a near two-year low against the dollar amid Europe's deepening debt woes, while disappointing US data and Chinese manufacturing numbers also sapped sentiment.

With investors scrambling for safer haven assets such as the yen, Japan's finance minister pledged “decisive action” if it keeps rising, indicating a possible fresh intervention by Tokyo.

Tokyo fell 1.20 per cent, or 102.48 points, to 8,440.25, Sydney dropped 0.30 per cent, or 12.4 points, to 4,063.9 and Seoul eased 0.49 per cent, giving up 8.96 points to close at 1,834.51.

Hong Kong slipped 0.38 per cent, or 71.18 points, to 18,558.34 and Shanghai was flat, edging 1.20 points up to 2,373.44.

The weak start to June came after a miserable May in which most markets gave up almost all the gains they had made since the turn of the year as the eurozone's debt crisis came back into sharp focus.

While Greece's political and economic future remains uncertain, Spain's banking sector is looking increasingly fragile, stoking fears that Madrid — already battling fiscal woes — could need an international bailout.

On Friday China said manufacturing activity grew at a much slower rate than expected in May, further confirming the world's number two economy is slowing rapidly after recent poor figures on trade, investment and industrial output.

The official purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50.4 from 53.3 in April, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement.

In the United States on Thursday the government lowered its estimate for first-quarter economic growth, to 1.9 per cent from 2.2 per cent, raising questions over how much of a rebound could be expected in the current quarter.

Two jobs reports — weekly unemployment claims and private-sector job creation in May — both were disappointing, indicating slow improvement in the economy.

On Wall Street the Dow fell 0.21 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.23 per cent and the Nasdaq slipped 0.35 per cent. Eyes are now on key non-payroll jobs data out of Washington later in the day for a guide to the US economy's recovery.

In other markets: Singapore closed down 0.97 per cent, or 26.83 points, at 2,745.71.

Vehicle distributor Jardine Cycle and Carriage was down 2.07 per cent at Sg$41.25 while Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp shed 1.20 per cent to Sg$8.26.

Taipei tumbled 2.68 per cent, or 195.41 points, to 7,106.09.

Smartphone giant HTC shed 3.72 per cent to Tw$414.0 while computer maker Acer was 1.64 per cent lower at Tw$30.05.

Manila closed 0.56 per cent lower, shedding 28.79 points to 5,062.44.

DMCI Holdings fell 4.49 per cent to 55.35 pesos and BDO Unibank ended 6.38 per cent down at 66 pesos.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone added 3.42 per cent to 2,420 pesos.

Wellington fell 1.04 per cent, or 36.29 points, to 3,452.00.

Fletcher Building slumped 4.29 per cent to NZ$6.02 and Telecom was down 1.55 per cent at NZ$2.54.

Jakarta ended 0.86 per cent, or 22.06 points, lower at 3,799.77.

Timah fell 1.46 per cent to 1,350 rupiah, Indofood Sukses Makmur lost 1.06 per cent to end at 4,675 rupiah and Indosat slid 1.28 per cent to 3,850 rupiah.

Kuala Lumpur eased 0.45 per cent, shedding 7.08 points to 1,573.59.

Financial firm CIMB Group Holdings lost 1.33 per cent to 7.40 ringgit, while telecoms company Axiata Group fell 0.19 per cent to 5.36. UEM Land Holdings gained 1.00 per cent to 2.03 ringgit.

Bangkok tumbled 2.30 per cent, or 26.31 points, to 1,115.19.

Mumbai fell 1.56 per cent, or 253.37 points, to 15,965.19.

India's leading vehicle maker Tata Motors fell 3.73 per cent to 224.5 rupees while engineering giant Larsen and Toubro fell 3.22 per cent to 1,134.5.—AFP