Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index erasing this year’s gains, after U.S. economic data missed estimates and ratings agencies downgraded Spanish banks and Greece as Europe’s debt crisis deepens.N

Nikkei 225 8,611.31 -265.28 -2.99%

Hang Seng 18,901.01 -299.92 -1.56%

S&P/ASX 200 4,046.46 -110.95 -2.67%

Shanghai Composite 2,344.52 -34.37 -1.44%

Samsung Electronics Co., a consumer-electronics maker that gets 40 percent of sales from Europe and America, dropped 4.7 percent in Seoul as exporters tumbled.

Japanese machinery makers plunged in Tokyo after sales growth slowed at industry bellwether Caterpillar Inc.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies fell as much as 20 percent from its high for the year on Feb. 29 after home prices slid in a record number of mainland cities during April.