Adding to the sour mood among investors were remarks from the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) that it would not continue to buy the sovereign bonds of debt-wracked countries indefinitely. The downbeat outlook for the eurozone also outweighed positive news from China, which said that inflation was at its lowest level for more than a year, raising the prospect of fresh monetary easing by Beijing. Tokyo fell 1.42 percent by the break, Hong Kong was 1.71 percent lower, Sydney lost 1.14 percent, Seoul shed 1.08 percent and Shanghai was down 0.54 percent. Tensions were running high at the two-day summit in Brussels as leaders struggled to find a deal to finally tackle the debt crisis, which has sent global markets spinning in recent months. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who earlier warned there might be "no second chance" for a deal, argue that full-blown treaty change with tighter fiscal unity is the way to reassure markets that governments will live within their means. In the early hours of Friday, officials said the summit had dropped a plan for full-blown treaty change for all 27 nations, instead opting for reform of the treaty for just the 17 eurozone members. Diplomats said they came up against stiff opposition from five states, including Britain which wanted the EU to ease off tough new regulation of the City of London financial sector and a proposed tax on financial transactions. The leaders are also said to be finding progress slow on other issues such as plans for the eurozone's current and future rescue funds. ECB chief Mario Draghi soured the mood early on by saying that action by the bank to buy up the sovereign bonds of debt-wracked countries was "limited" and "temporary". "Undoubtedly the ECB has succeeded in putting the pressure on Europe's political leaders to work to a viable solution for the next phase of the eurozone, but in the meantime markets are back at the mercy of confidence," said Peter Chatwell, strategist at Credit Agricole. In early Asian trade the euro bought $1.3324 and 103.53 yen in early Asian trade, from $1.3341 and 103.58 yen in New York late Thursday. However, it is down from Thursday's $1.3402 and 104.05 yen. The dollar was almost unchanged against the Japanese currency, trading at 77.67 yen. Shares in Shanghai slipped despite data showing consumer prices rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in November, their slowest pace since September last year. The rate was well off the 5.5 percent seen in October and much better than the three-year high of 6.5 percent recorded in July. The country's consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. The rate was well below the 5.5 percent recorded in October, but still slightly above the government's annual target of four percent. It was the slowest pace since September 2010, when inflation stood at 3.6 percent, and below analysts' expectations of 4.4 percent. Friday's figures raised hopes that China will further ease monetary policy after more than a year of interest rate hikes and other tightening measures that were introduced amid fears of soaring prices. On oil markets New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, gained five cents to $98.39 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for January delivery shed 10 cents to $108.01. Gold was trading at $1,713.65 an ounce at 0300 GMT, from $1,738.40 late Thursday.