Asian shares fell on Friday and the safe-haven dollar hovered near its highest in a week-and-a-half after weak manufacturing data from the United States, Europe and China heightened fears over the outlook for global growth. A long-expected downgrade to the credit ratings of 15 of the world’s biggest banks by ratings agency Moody’s added to the gloom, which also weighed on commodities and currencies such as the Australian dollar that are linked to resource demand. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei share average lost 0.5 percent.”It was expected that the market would undergo an adjustment after earlier climbs, and the soft data gave it a reason,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities in Seoul.
