SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks fell across the board on Tuesday in Asia, following a volatile day's trading on U.S. markets.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo led the way. The benchmark index dived 256.08 points or 0.90 percent to 28,222.48.

China's Shanghai Composite slid 26.08 points or 0.73 percent to 3,567.44.

The Australian All Ordinaries dropped 55.00 points or 0.71 percent to 7,710.70.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 7.48 points or 0.03 percent to 23,739.06.

On forex markets, the U.S. dollar was steady after falling slightly overnight. The euro traded in a tight range around 1.1340. The British pound held on to recent gains, trading at 1.3590. The Japanese yen was strong at 115.18. The Swiss franc was quiet at around 0.9257.

The Canadian dollar slipped to 1.2650. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were little changed at 0.7181 and 0.6766 respectively.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite which was down more than two percent earlier in the day recovered to trade ahead 6.93 points or 0.05 percent, to close at 14,942.83.

The Standard and Poor's 500 edged down 6.74 points or 0.14 percent to 4,670.29.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 162.79 points or 0.45 percent to 36,068.87.