Asian stocks largely declined Wednesday after weak U.S. data refueled worries about the strength of the global economic recovery. Technology shares dropped, unimpressed by Samsung Electronics' forecast of a record operating profit. More MarketBeat: China Reaffirms U.S. Treasury Importance MarketBeat: Yuan's Rise to Slow, Won to Rally - Poll Dow Snaps Losing Streak "It's the same story from before; the market can't free itself from recent worries about slowing growth in the U.S. and China," said Samsung Securities analyst Oh Hyun-seok in Seoul. "The U.S. market's weakness toward the end of (Tuesday's session) is also negatively affecting sentiment."Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.5%, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6%, Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.2% and India's Sensex gave up 0.6% in afternoon trade.China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.5% higher after enduring a choppy trading session, as gains in consumer and cement stocks offset broad declines in banks.[Read more...]