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The bleak economic data coming in from China has managed to spook investors away from equity markets in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
The region’s most powerful economy’s industrial production grew 6.4% in the month of July – falling short of expectations of around 8% year-on-year growth.
Retail sales in China also rose 8.5% in July as compared with a year ago, according to official data released Monday – three percentage points lower than the forecast of 11.5% growth.
Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed after the data came out, with the Shanghai Composite rising 0.37% while the Shenzhen component shed 0.30%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.76%.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 collapsed 1.83%, while the Topix Index crashed 1.65%. Shares of SoftBank Group and retail firm Fast Retailing were worst-hit – falling more than 2.78% and 2.03% respectively.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.3% in the second quarter as compared with the previous three months, when it contracted 0.9%, as per the official preliminary estimates released Monday.
Down Under in Australia, shares were trading in the red, after a week of record run. The benchmark ASX200 was down 0.37%. In South Korea, markets are closed on Monday for a national holiday.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley Capital International’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.5%.
In the global oil market, the prices of crude oil slipped in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 1.06% at US$69.84 per barrel. US crude futures shed 1.11% to US$67.68 per barrel.
The US dollar index, that tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.544 following a recent decline from around the 93 level.
