Asian markets made a mixed start of new week

The Asian markets have made a mixed start though some of the indices that are in red have marginally lost momentum due to their domestic issues. China was trading lower as country’s industrial output grew in August at the slowest rate since 2009. Production increased 8.9 percent in August from a year earlier and fixed-asset investment growth in the first eight months eased to 20.2 percent. Japan’s economy expanded in the second quarter at half the pace the government initially estimated. Gross domestic product of the nation grew at an annualized 0.7 percent in the three months through June, less than a preliminary calculation of 1.4 percent. Also, a finance ministry report showed that the nation’s current-account surplus narrowed 41 percent from a year earlier to 625.4 billion yen in July. Meanwhile, South Korea has decided to add 5.9 trillion won ($5.2 billion) of economic support measures as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and a slowdown in China has impacted the nation’s exports.

Shanghai Composite was up by 6.87 points or 0.32% to 2,134.63, Hang Seng gained 37.21 points or 0.19% to 19,839.37, Straits Times added 2.60 points or 0.08% to 3,014.15, Kospi Composite was marginally up by 0.45 points or 0.01% to 1,929.69, and Taiwan Weighted has gained 52.25 points or 0.70% to 7,476.96.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite lost 8.69 points or 0.20% to 4,135.07, KLSE Composite declined by 1.72 points or 0.12% to 1,622.65, Nikkei 225 was down by 11.31 points or 0.13% to 8,860.34.