Asia stocks muted as Greek debt talks drag on

BANGKOK — Asian stock markets were muted Tuesday as talks dragged on to resolve a massive debt mess in Greece before it explodes into a wider financial crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 percent to 8,916.09. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 1,979.30 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.6 percent higher at 20,826.19. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Singapore rose while mainland China fell.

Greek political leaders have been haggling over the details of a cost-cutting package required for the country to get more urgently needed loans from international lenders; some €130 billion ($170 billion) in bailout money is on the line.

Without an injection of emergency money, Greece will likely default on its bond repayments on March 20 — an event that could shake European banks and other private lenders with Greek debt on their books.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have warned Greek leaders that they need to push through the austerity measures or risk letting the country go bankrupt.

“The stakes are high with a potential disorderly default and Eurozone exit on the cards should no agreement be reached,” analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in an email.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell or 0.1 percent to close at 12,845.13 on Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped marginally to 1,344.33. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 percent to 2,901.99.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 36 cents to $97.28 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 93 cents to finish at $96.91 per barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3122 from $1.3125 late Monday in New York. The dollar rose to 76.64 yen from 76.59 yen.