HONG KONG – Asia stocks mostly held firm on Tuesday, despite weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data, with Japan’s broad share index hitting a 33-year high on a rally in chipmakers following US tech sector gains.
Anticipation of a softening dollar also cushioned emerging markets, although investors were wary of crucial US government debt-ceiling negotiations, with a little more than two weeks to go before the government could run short of money to pay its bills.
Japan’s Topix was up 0.5 percent to 2,125.45 in afternoon trade, after earlier hitting 2,126.14, its highest since August 1990. The Nikkei index climbed 0.78 percent to 29,858.
In the US overnight, Meta Platforms Inc climbed 2.16 percent as one of the top boosts to both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 after a broker’s upgrade to “buy”.
China’s industrial output grew 5.6 percent in April from a year earlier, accelerating from the 3.9 percent pace seen in March and marking the quickest growth since September 2022, data showed on Tuesday. But it was well below expectations for a 10.9 percent increase in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Retail sales also missed expectations, and, coming against a backdrop of China’s weak industrial, credit growth and import indicators, highlighted a wobbly post-COVID recovery.
With the softer readings, the market expects the policy response to try and shore up the economy and ensure that corporate confidence is back and growth is more sustainable, said Kerry Craig, a global market strategist with JPMorgan.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.32 percent higher.
“The market is thinking that the Fed is done (with rate hikes) and the US dollar is going to come down a little bit so that supports the markets in Asia,” Craig said. – Reuters
