Global stock markets fell, today, after gloomy Japanese manufacturing data. Oil also fell while safe-haven assets like gold and the Japanese yen rose. The Japanese data overshadowed upbeat news from China's vast factory sector. So Japan's Nikkei 225 index sank 3.6 percent, amid a deeply disappointing survey of major manufacturers from the Bank of Japan which found sentiment at its lowest in nearly three years. The report crystallised concerns that the BOJ's dramatic shift to negative rates was not working, and might never work. A rise in the yen, and selling by hedge funds for the new financial year also led Japanese stocks lower. Singapore's Straits Times index lost 0.8 percent; South Korea's Kospi shed 1.1 percent; and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.3 percent. But China's Shanghai Composite index managed to gain 0.2 percent. Data from China showed factory activity growing for the first time in nine months, and a much needed pick up in the services sector. But weighing on the market was Standard & Poor's decision to cut China's credit outlook to negative, saying Beijing's reform agenda was likely to proceed more slowly than expected.In the European markets, the UK's FTSE-100 had lost 1.3 percent, Germany's DAX had slumped 1.9 percent, and France's CAC-40 had plunged 2 percent in intra-day trade.