Beijing, China (BBN)-Asia Pacific stock markets rose on Monday, shrugging off disappointing economic data released by China over the weekend.
China’s industrial output, retail sales and fixed asset investment all grew more slowly than expected in April, indicating the economy remains weak, reports BBC.
The Nikkei 225 index is up nearly 1 per cent, while the broader Topix gained 0.1 per cent.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.5 per cent while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.4 per cent.
Australia’s benchmark ASX/200 rose 0.6 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi index was trading flat on Monday.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday that industrial output rose 6 per cent year-over-year in April, compared with 6.8 per cent growth the month earlier.
Fixed-asset investment grew by 10.5 per cent in the January-to-April period, compared with an increase of 10.7 per cent the year before.
Retail sales grew by 10.1 per cent in April from a year earlier. They all missed market expectations.
Vishnu Varathan from Mizuho bank said the activity data raised concerns about China’s renewed slowdown and exacerbated “woes about global demand deficiency”.
BBN/SK/AD