Asia stocks down after US losses

Hong Kong
Asian markets sank on Wednesday following a big sell-off on Wall Street, with Tokyo hit by profit-taking after an eight-day rally while fears that Greece will default on its debt obligations dragged the euro down.
An upbeat batch of US data has put wind back in the sails of the dollar, which is sitting near an eight-year high against the yen as the chances of an interest rate hike increase.
Hong Kong fell 0.49 percent, Sydney shed 0.76 percent and Seoul lost 1.50 percent, while Tokyo was down 0.10 percent and Shanghai gave up 0.53 percent. US traders fled to the sidelines on Tuesday as they returned from a long weekend to a strong dollar, which hurts exporters. Modest improvements in US consumer confidence, home sales and prices, and orders for core industrial goods pointed to a pick-up in growth in the world’s biggest economy.
The data, along with comments Friday from Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen that she expects to hike interest rates “at some point this year”, put upward pressure on the dollar.