TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell sharply after U.S. House of Representative Speaker John Boehner conceded that his tax bill designed to help avert the "fiscal cliff" lacked the votes to pass.

S&P 500 stock futures fell 1.6 percent, while Dow Jones stock futures and Nasdaq futures both lost 1.5 percent.

(Reporting by Dominic Lau; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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