Asian markets ended higher on Wednesday after Washington delayed imposing tariffs on some Chinese products from September 1, fueling hopes for a trade deal between the world's two largest economies. Chinese shares ended higher as the tariff postponement from Washington helped investors shrug off weaker than expected economic data. Reports showed China's industrial production and retail sales grew at weaker pace in July. Industrial output growth eased to 4.8 percent in July from 6.3 percent in June. Output was expected to expand 6 percent. Growth in retail sales slowed to 7.6 percent from 9.8 percent a month ago. The expected pace of growth was 8.6 percent. During January to July period, fixed asset investment logged an annual growth of 5.7 percent compared to 5.8 percent increase in January to June. The rate was expected to remain unchanged at 5.8 percent. Further, Japanese shares closed up as eased worries over the US-China trade war and data showed a surprise rebound in Japan's core machinery orders in June. Cabinet Office data showed core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, rose 13.9 percent in June from the previous month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,808.91 | 11.65 | 0.42 |
Hang Seng | 25,302.28 | 20.98 | 0.08 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,267.34 | 56.38 | 0.91 |
KLSE Composite | 1,600.31 | 7.43 | 0.47 |
Nikkei 225 | 20,655.13 | 199.69 | 0.98 |
Straits Times | 3,147.60 | 0.87 | 0.03 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,938.37 | 12.54 | 0.65 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,427.73 | 65.07 | 0.63 |
