European Markets
London's FTSE 100 was off 0.4 per cent, as the world's biggest ad company WPP dropped 2.3 per cent after U.S. rivals issued profit warnings last week, blaming a global economic slowdown.
In Paris, advertising firms Publicis and Havas Advertising were down more than four per cent each. Both stocks trade outside the CAC 40 blue chip index, which dropped 0.1 per cent.
United Business Media declined 2.4 per cent in London. TF1 lost 1.5 per cent and Vivendi Universal, Europe's biggest media company, fell 1.1 per cent in Paris.
Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was up 0.2 per cent. Reinsurer Munich Re gained 1.5 per cent and Commerzbank, Germany's No. 3 bank, was up 1.4 per cent.
In Amsterdam the AEX index fell 0.2 per cent and the SMI in Zurich was down 0.1 per cent. Milan's MIB30 index dropped 0.7 per cent.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was off 0.3 per cent, with the health, oil & gas and media stocks all falling.
Asian Markets
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei average fell 0.7 per cent, losing 8.5 per cent over the past month.
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest stock, was down 3.4 per cent. That dragged the broader Topix index, which was down 0.5 per cent.
Japan Telecom fell 0.4 per cent. No. 2 carrier KDDI Corp. was down 1.54 per cent.
Sony Corp. fell 1.4 per cent. Japan's largest cell-phone handset maker, Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. dropped 4.5 per cent.
Mizuho Holdings Inc., the world's largest bank assets, added 7.1 per cent. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. rose 2.8 per cent.
In Sydney, the benchmark S& P/ASX 200 index was down 0.9 per cent.
Telstra fell 0.7 per cent, to hit its lowest since last September.
Australia's largest stock, media giant News Corp., lost 1.4 per cent.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia dropped 2.1 per cent.
New Zealand's NZSE-40 Capital index fell 0.2 per cent. Telecom New Zealand, the biggest stock trading in Wellington, was down 0.72 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.2 per cent.
China Mobile fell 4.2 per cent. China Unicom dropped 3.9 per cent.
The H-share index, of companies trading in Hong Kong but based in China, was off 2.9 per cent.
Hong Kong's red chips, companies that are based in Hong Kong but do most of their business in China, fell 2.03 per cent, while China's hard-currency B share indexes ended down, too.
In Taiwan, the benchmark Taiex was down 1.7 per cent.
UMC fell 4.76 per cent, dragging down all electronics stocks. Rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped 1.6 per cent.
In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi fell 1.6 per cent.
Hynix Semiconductor lost 9.4 per cent.
Korea Exchange Bank was down 3.2 per cent.
Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.1 per cent in mid afternoon.
