Singapore: Asian shares fell on Wednesday and the euro wobbled after French and German leaders failed to deliver a solution to the euro zone debt crisis and restore investor confidence after a global market rout.
Japan's Nikkei share average was down almost 1 percent, and South Korea's KOSPI stock index, which gained 4 percent on Tuesday, was down 0.3 percent.
US S&P stock futures fell 0.4 percent, adding to the cautious mood in Asia and extending losses on Wall Street overnight.
Late on Tuesday, computer maker Dell slashed its sales forecast for 2012, a deeply bearish signal not only for the health of global demand but for other hi-tech manufacturers, many of which are listed in Tokyo and Seoul.
MSCI's broadest index of non-Japanese Asia Pacific shares ticked slightly lower.
The index has lost around 10 percent since the start of the year, much of it in recent weeks, as sovereign debt problems in Europe and the United States and fears that the US could slide back into recession prompted investors to sell equities and other riskier assets in both emerging and developed markets.
"Investors have been dumping emerging markets stocks across the board for the first time in the post-Lehman era," said a market report from TrimTabs Investment Research. "Investors are selling Asia without discrimination."
The euro fell to $1.4369 from Tuesday's session high around $1.4470, as traders expected more downward pressure once markets in Europe open later in the day.
A hotly anticipated meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel fell short of producing a plan of dramatic action to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis, an outcome many market watchers had anticipated.
While long-term deficit reduction has become a pressing problem, many investors fear that calls for immediate spending cuts in many euro zone countries and the United States could retard global growth further.
Germany reported on Tuesday that its economy came close to stalling in the second quarter, though other data showed U.S. industrial output rose at its fasted pace in seven months in July, perhaps indicating the economy started the second half of the year on better footing than many analysts had feared.
The dollar index against major currencies rose 0.2 percent. Against the yen, the dollar traded around 76.76, down from more than 80 yen earlier in August.
Gold, attractive to some investors as a refuge from turmoil in currencies, bonds and shares, is one of the best-performing assets this year. It traded at $1,785 per ounce on Wednesday, little changed from the previous session around $30 below the peak it touched last week.
US crude oil futures were up 11 cents to $86.74 per barrel.
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