Asian stocks fell, with the benchmark regional gauge headed to its biggest monthly drop since 2008, as Europe’s debt crisis threatened to engulf countries other than Greece and Japan’s factory output trailed estimates.

Nikkei 225 8,542.73 -90.46 -1.05%

S&P/ASX 200 4,076.3 -17.93 -0.44%

Shanghai Composite 2,371.32 -13.35 -0.56%

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. a machinery maker, fell 2 percent in Tokyo. Technology companies led declines, with Samsung Electronics Co., which gets a fifth of its sales from Europe, sliding 1.2 percent in Seoul.

James Hardie Industries SE, a seller of home siding that counts the U.S. as its biggest market, retreated 0.8 percent in Sydney after U.S. home sales declined.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s No. 1 offshore energy explorer, dropped 1.3 percent in Hong Kong as oil futures in New York entered a bear market.