Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Tuesday trade, as various firms downgraded China’s GDP forecasts.
Goldman Sachs on Tuesday slashed its China GDP growth expectations to 7.8%, down from the 8.2% previously forecast.
Nomura also expected China’s GDP to grow by 7.7% this year, down from a previous forecast of 8.2%.
Still, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains regionally, jumping 1.46% by the afternoon. Mainland Chinese stocks were also higher, with the Shanghai composite up 0.53% while the Shenzhen component gained 0.139%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.87%. SK Innovation shares jumped nearly 4% after the firm announced a plan with Ford Motor to invest more than $11 billion in new U.S. facilities to produce electric vehicles and batteries.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% while the Topix index shed 0.53%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dipped 1.26%.
Australia’s retail sales fell 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis in August, data from the country’s Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. That was higher than market forecasts for a 2.5% decline.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.07% higher.
Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 71.37 points to 34,869.37 while the S&P 500 shed 0.28% to 4,443.11. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.52% to 14,969.97.
The mixed moves on Wall Street came as the 10-year Treasury yield crossed 1.5% on Monday, its highest since June. It held within those levels and last sat at 1.5079%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.79% to $80.16 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.86% to $76.10 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.451 against an earlier low of 93.399.
The Japanese yen traded at 111.18 per dollar following a weakening from below 110.6 against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7301 after yesterday’s bounce from below $0.726.
– CNBC