Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday after British lawmakers rejected a possible no-deal Brexit, forcing Prime Minister Theresa May to give MPs another chance to vote on delaying Brexit. Chinese data signaled further weakness in the world's second-biggest economy, but at the same time raised hopes for more policy support. Chinese shares ended lower as mixed economic readings rekindled growth worries. China's industrial output grew an annual 5.3 percent in the first two months of 2019, a government report showed. This marked the slowest pace of growth in 17 years and fell short of expectations for a score of 5.5 percent. At the same time, retail sales climbed 8.2 percent and fixed asset investment rose 6.1 percent in the same period, beating expectations. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended largely unchanged after a slew of China data proved to be a mixed bag.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,990.68 | -36.27 | -1.20 |
Hang Seng | 28,851.39 | 43.94 | 0.15 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,413.27 | 35.69 | 0.56 |
KLSE Composite | 1,674.52 | -3.72 | -0.22 |
Nikkei 225 | 21,287.02 | -3.22 | -0.02 |
Straits Times | 3,197.92 | 2.33 | 0.07 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,155.68 | 7.27 | 0.34 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,348.65 | -24.67 | -0.24 |
