Yahoo Finance China Equity Markets Soften after Retail Sales Growth Dips to 5-Month Low; Investors Still Locked-in to Trade Talk Possibilities
The major equity indexes in Asia are trading lower early Wednesday as investors digest the mixed price action on Wall Street while continuing to monitor potentially positive developments in the lingering trade dispute between the United States and China. Traders are also responding to fresh economic data from China. The steep drop in crude oil prices on Tuesday is also having an impact on shares of oil companies in Asia.
At 0421 GMT, Japan’s NIKKEI 225 Index is the lone winner in the region, trading 21882.52, up 72.00 or +0.33%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is at 25758.06, down 34.81 or -0.13%, and South Korea’s KOSPI Index is trading 2067.22, down 4.18 or -0.20%.
The mainland China markets are trading lower. The Shanghai Index is 2653.24, down 1.64 or -0.06% and the Shenzhen Composite is lower by 0.2 percent.
U.S. and China Investors Paying Close Attention to Trade News
On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He had resumed trade talks.
Later in the trading session, U.S. stocks jumped to their high for the session after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed reports of renewed talks between the U.S. and China on trade.
The renewed trade talks are important because they could lead to a smooth transition into higher level talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 30 – December 1.
Fresh Economic Data from China
Investors are also reacting to the release of fresh economic data from China. Earlier today, China reported that the country’s Industrial Production for October came in at 5.9 percent higher than a year ago. This was slightly better than the 5.8 percent forecast.
Fixed Asset Investment came in at 5.7 percent higher than a year ago. Investors were looking for an increase of 5.5 percent.
China’s statistics bureau showed retail sales growth in China unexpectedly dipped to the slowest pace since May last month while real estate decelerated further.
China’s Retail Sales report was disappointing. The year-to-year number came in at 8.6 percent higher, much lower than the 9.2 percent forecast.
The October figure was down 0.7 percentage points from September’s level. Furthermore, it took sales growth during 2018 down a tenth of a point to 9.2 percent, however, the dip was even worse for online sales which showed a full percentage point decline for the first ten months to 26.7 percent.
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
