Yahoo Finance Asian Markets Rise Despite Wall Street Sell-off
Investing.com - Asian equities rose in morning trade on Monday despite a sell-off on Wall Street.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged nearly 500 points to close at its lowest level since early May. The S&P 500 fell 1.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 2.26%. Weaker-than-expected economic data out of China were said to be catalysts for the selling.
Retail sales grew 8.1% year on year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, compared with the median forecast of 8.8%. The growth was the weakest pace since 2003, according to Reuters’ records.
Meanwhile, growth in industrial output also dipped half a percentage point to notch a year-on-year rise of 5.4%, lower than the 5.9% that markets projected.
On the other hand, fixed-asset investment grew 5.9% from January to November, marginally higher than the previous expected 5.8%.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1%, but the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.6% by 9:34 PM ET (02:34 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was little changed at 26,090.0.
The People’s Bank of China said in a statement on Monday that anti-globalisation and trade protectionism created more uncertainties and challenges for China’s economy, but the central bank will “guide reasonable growth of credit and social financing.”
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 was up 0.9% after the Federal Government predicted the country is on track for its first budget surplus in more than a decade.
Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.7%, while South Korea’s KOSPI traded 0.1% higher.
Shares of conglomerate Softbank Corp. (T:9984) recovered and traded 1% higher ahead of the public listing of its mobile unit on Dec. 19.
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