The Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, tracking the lackluster lead from Wall Street as uncertainty over the outlook of US monetary policy sapped investor confidence. Japan lowered its assessment of the current economic climate for the first time since October last year, with an official saying that rising corporate profits have failed to revive inanimate consumption and business investment. For near-term growth prospects, the government repeated its warning about sluggish growth in Asian emerging market economies caused by the recent Chinese slowdown. In its monthly report for September, the government continued to say the domestic economy is on a moderate recovery trend but noted it has some soft spots: consumer spending is sluggish, exports are weak and business sentiment is flat. In an unprecedented move, the government declined to say officially in its report whether it is downgrading its view. Japan’s Corporate Services Price Index (CSPI) rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.7%, from 0.6% in the preceding month while its National Core CPI fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.1%, from 0.0% in the preceding month. Tokyo’s core CPI, which excludes fresh food costs fell to at an annualized rate of -0.2%, from -0.1% in the preceding month. China’s spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, Sheng Laiyun stated that the country’s economic growth will not fluctuate much in the third quarter compared with previous quarters as the impact from the stock market volatility was not large. Sheng added that the world’s second-largest economy grew 7 percent in the first half of this year, and the first two quarters’ GDP growth is reliable.
Asian Indices Last Trade Change in Points Change in % Shanghai Composite 3,092.35 -50.34 -1.60 Hang Seng 21,186.32 90.34 0.43 Jakarta Composite 4,209.44 -34.99 -0.82 KLSE Composite 1,615.01 1.84 0.11 Nikkei 225 17,880.51 308.68 1.76 Straits Times 2,832.64 -13.10 -0.46 KOSPI Composite 1,942.85 -4.25 -0.22 Taiwan Weighted 8,132.35 9.25 0.11