Asian stocks tumble as ECB rules out more bond buys

Asian stocks tumbled Friday after the European Central Bank said it had no immediate plans for a large-scale purchase of government bonds, a move investors had been counting on to help ease the regions debt crisis.ECB president Mario Draghi said at a crucial summit of European leaders that began late Thursday that the bank does not anticipate increasing the scale of its bond interventions, which would have kept down the borrowing costs of weak countries like Italy and Spain.European leaders will hunker down Friday for a second day of negotiations over how to save the euro.Markets regard the summit as a final chance to save the euro, strategists at Credit Agricole CIB said in a research note.Japans Nikkei 225 fell 1.4 percent to 8,540.63 as the government said the economy grew slightly less in the third quarter. South Koreas Kospi lost 1 percent to 1,892.83 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng shed 1.7 percent to 18,784.66.Benchmarks in Australia, Singapore and Taiwan also fell.Mainland Chinese shares fell less than other Asian markets after officials said inflation in November fell to a lower than expected 4.2 percent, opening the way for easier credit to support growth. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 2,321.44.In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.6 percent, to close at 11,997.70. The Standard & Poors 500 index ended 2.1 percent lower at 1,234.35. The Nasdaq lost 2 percent to close at 2,596.38.Benchmark oil for January delivery fell 2 cents to $98.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.15 to end the day at $98.34 on Thursday.In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3347 from $1.3340 late Thursday in New York. The dollar was steady at 77.67 yen.