Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Thursday as China reported its second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) rose.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.82%.
· China shares end higher on better-than-expected retail data, hopes for policy support
Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher.
The Shanghai composite rose 1.02% to 3,564.59 .
The Shenzhen component advanced 0.751% to 15,169.33.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.85%, as of its final hour of trading.
China’s GDP rose 7.9% year-on-year in the second quarter, official data showed Thursday. That was lower than expectations by economists in a Reuters poll for a 8.1% rise.
Meanwhile, retail sales in June jumped 12.1% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed — above analyst expectations for a 11% increase, according to Reuters.
Chinese industrial output rose 8.3% year-on-year in June, against expectations by analysts in a Reuters poll for a 7.8% increase.
· Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia slipped 0.26% to close at 7,335.90.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.9% in June, the country’s Bureau of Statistics announced Thursday. That was less than an expected 5.0% in a Reuters poll, and was also a drop from the 5.1% jobless rate in May.
· Japan shares fall on caution ahead of earnings, rising COVID-19 cases before Olympics
Japanese stocks ended lower on Thursday, as caution ahead of corporate earnings season and a surge in COVID-19 cases a week before the Tokyo Olympics begins weighed on sentiment.
The Nikkei share average dropped 1.2% to close at 28,279.09.
Topix also sliding about the same margin to 1,939.61.
Tokyo reported 1,149 new infections on Wednesday, the most since mid-January, despite a new state of emergency that began on Monday and runs through Aug. 22. Many worry that the influx of foreign athletes and Olympic officials could trigger a further surge in cases.
· European markets pull back as investors look to data, earnings, Fed comments; Siemens Gamesa down 16%
European stocks were lower on Thursday, as investors digest inflation data from the U.S. and U.K. released yesterday along with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments, and look ahead to more earnings and jobs data.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.5% in early trade, with oil and gas stocks tumbling 3% after OPEC+ reportedly reached an agreement on future oil production levels, as almost all sectors slipped into the red.
The lull for European markets comes after hotter-than-expected U.S. and U.K. inflation figures were published Wednesday and comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
· Energy stocks pull FTSE 100 lower as inflation, virus worries persist
London’s FTSE 100 fell on Thursday as heavyweight energy stocks tracked weak oil prices, while a steady rise in inflation coupled with higher local coronavirus infections stoked concerns of slowing the pace of economic recovery.
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