Chinese markets inch higher as Asia stocks mostly fall; China’s GDP misses expectations

Key Points

• Chinese markets inched higher while Asia stocks fell Friday as investors watched for market reaction to a slew of China data.
• China’s GDP grew 0.4% in the second quarter, compared with 4.8% in the first quarter and the 1% that analysts in a Reuters poll predicted.
• Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares dropped more than 4% overnight after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s executives were summoned by authorities investigating theft of police data.

SINGAPORE — Chinese markets inched higher while stocks elsewhere in Asia fell Friday as investors watched for market reaction to China’s second-quarter GDP missing expectations.

China’s GDP grew 0.4% in the second quarter, compared with 4.8% in the first quarter and the 1% that analysts in a Reuters poll predicted.

The Shanghai Composite was fractionally higher, while the Shenzhen Component was up 0.26%.

The second-quarter report is China’s weakest GDP print since the first quarter of 2020 when the Covid pandemic first hit.

Retail sales topped expectations, however, rising 3.1% in June. A Reuters poll of analysts expected no growth compared with a year ago.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly decline

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.44%.

South Korea’s Kospi gave up early gains to decline 0.64% and the Kosdaq lost 0.94%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 0.56% higher, while the Topix index shed 0.33%.

Shares of Uniqlo-owner Fast Retailing jumped 7.29% after the company posted a record quarterly profit after the close on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.77%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.51%.

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Separately in China, bank and real estate stocks were hit Thursday as homebuyers boycott mortgage payments for unfinished property projects.

The South China Morning Post reported late Thursday that the boycott has grown, with buyers of more than 230 properties in 86 cities not making mortgage payments.

Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares dropped more than 4% overnight after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company’s executives were summoned by authorities investigating theft of police data. The tech giant’s shares in Hong Kong fell around 4% in early trade.

U.S. stock indexes slipped Thursday after bank earnings disappointed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.46%, or 142.62 points, to 30,630.17, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.3% to 3,790.38. The Nasdaq Composite inched 0.03% higher to finish at 11,251.19.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	26797.47	154.08	0.58
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	20510.95	-240.26	-1.16
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	6593.9	-56.7	-0.85
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	3274.25	-7.5	-0.23
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2320.9	-1.42	-0.06
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	7865.27	-7.53	-0.1

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 108.607. The index popped above 109 briefly in the previous session.

The Japanese yen was at 138.88, after weakening beyond 139 against the greenback on Thursday. The Australian dollar was at $0.6749.

Oil futures rose in Asia trade. U.S. crude was fractionally higher at $95.82 per barrel, while Brent crude was up 0.17% at $99.27 per barrel.

Source : CNBC