Following previous day’s impressive gains, Asian markets ended lower on Thursday amid weak manufacturing data of China, which increased worries over country’s economic condition. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended in negative territory losing over 1% as Finance Ministry reported 5.8% decline in the exports from the world’s third-largest economy in August from a year earlier. Mixed U.S. housing data also pressurized the markets to an extent. Shanghai Composite closed in red losing over 2% to end at a more than three-and-a-half year low as the weak PMI data witnessed decline in demand in both domestic and overseas markets. Seoul market fell remarkably amid doubts over the outlook for growth in China, while benchmark Kospi was dragged down by profit booking in tech and oil stocks.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,024.84 | -42.99 | -2.08 |
Hang Seng | 20,590.92 | -250.99 | -1.20 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,217.52 | -27.19 | -0.64 |
KLSE Composite | 1,625.59 | -20.52 | -1.25 |
Nikkei 225 | 9,086.98 | -145.23 | -1.57 |
Straits Times | 3,062.61 | -13.02 | -0.42 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,990.33 | -17.55 | -0.87 |
Taiwan Weighted | 7,727.55 | -54.36 | -0.70 |