Asian equity markets ended lower on Thursday as trade war fears resurfaced and the US Federal Reserve sounded slightly more hawkish after raising official interest rate for the second time this year. Investors also adopted a cautious stance ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement later in the day amid expectations the central bank will signal a winding down of its vast bond-buying program by the end of this year. Chinese shares dropped after reports suggested the Trump administration is preparing to proceed with tariffs on Chinese goods. Further, a slew of economic data from China too disappointed investors. Industrial production in China was up an annual 6.8 percent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was shy of expectations for 7.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the April reading. Retail sales grew an annual 8.5 percent in May - also missing expectations for 9.6 percent and down from 9.4 percent in the previous month. Fixed asset investment gained 6.1 percent year-on-year, missing forecasts for 7.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the April reading. Japanese shares ended lower as a firmer yen on worries about global trade and faster pace of interest rate hikes sapped investors' appetite for risk. Japan's industrial production climbed 0.5 percent month-over-month in April, faster than the 0.3 percent estimated earlier, final data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed today. This marked the third successive monthly rise. Meanwhile, the Indonesian market was closed for Eid-ul-Fitr.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,044.16 | -5.64 | -0.18 |
Hang Seng | 30,440.17 | -284.98 | -0.93 |
Jakarta Composite | - | - | - |
KLSE Composite | 1,761.78 | -1.79 | -0.10 |
Nikkei 225 | 22,738.61 | -227.77 | -0.99 |
Straits Times | 3,356.73 | -35.78 | -1.05 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,423.48 | -45.35 | -1.84 |
Taiwan Weighted | 11,013.98 | -159.23 | -1.43 |
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