A woman looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday as markets watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested economic data from China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

TOKYO - Global stocks mostly fell on Tuesday as investors watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested weak manufacturing data from China.

KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 shed 0.3 per cent to 5,325 and Germany's DAX fell 0.2 per cent to 13,053. Britain's FTSE 100 added nearly 0.1 per cent to 7,420. U.S. shares were set to drift lower, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both down 0.2 per cent.

DATA WATCH: Economic growth figures were upbeat for Italy and Germany, which saw growth accelerate to a quarterly 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, from 0.6 per cent in the previous three-month period. But new data for China disappointed. Its growth in industrial value-added output slowed to an annual rate of 6.2 per cent in October, from 6.6-per cent in September. China's private fixed-asset investment increased 5.8 per cent on year in the first 10 months of this year, lower than the 6-per cent increase for the first nine months. The Chinese economy is still growing but the focus is on assessing whether that pace is slowing.

ANALYST VIEWPOINT: "Risk appetite was . dithering," analysts from Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a commentary. "The mood is certainly nowhere near the exuberance earlier this year."

U.S. TAXES: The fate of U.S. tax overhaul legislation remains uncertain. It would deeply cut corporate taxes, double the standard deduction used by most Americans, and limit or repeal completely the federal deduction for state and local property, income and sales taxes. It carries high political stakes for President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index was flat to finish at 22,380.01 after trading in a narrow margin. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was nearly unchanged at 29,154.01, down 0.1 per cent, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 per cent to 5,968.70. South Korea's Kospi edged down 0.2 per cent to 2,526.64. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5 per cent to 3,429.55. But shares in Taiwan and Southeast Asia were mostly higher.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 31 cents to $56.45 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 2 cents on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 33 cents to $62.83 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.60 yen from 113.30 yen on Friday, while the euro strengthened to $1.1742 from $1.1656 on the back of the upbeat economic growth figures.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama can be reached at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama

News from © The Associated Press, 2017