Market watch: Asian stocks mixed; oil slips ahead of Trump-Putin talks on Ukraine
Asian stock markets showed a mixed performance on Friday, with strong Japanese growth figures offset by weaker Chinese data, while oil prices slipped ahead of a high-stakes US-Russia summit on Ukraine.
As per news agency AFP, Japan's economy expanded by 0.3% in the April-June quarter, surpassing forecasts, while the previous quarter's output was revised upwards, helping the world's fourth-largest economy avoid a technical recession.
The growth came despite tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Japanese imports, including cars, an industry that provides around 8% of Japan's jobs. The Nikkei 225 rose nearly 1% in morning trade, while markets in Shanghai, Seoul, and Sydney also edged higher.
However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped for a second straight session after China's July retail sales and industrial production grew at a slower pace than expected.
Reuters noted that the CSI 300 index erased early gains, reflecting ongoing concerns about China's prolonged real estate slump, high youth unemployment, and weak consumer sentiment, pressures worsened by the US-China trade war.
On Wall Street, stocks ended largely flat on Thursday after strong US producer price inflation dampened hopes of a larger interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month.
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'What it did was to get rid of all the chat about a 50 basis point cut,' said Mike Houlahan of Electus Financial, as quoted by Reuters.
Markets are now pricing in a 92% chance of a quarter-point cut, with no expectations of a half-point move.
Oil prices eased in Asian trade, reversing Thursday's gains. According to AFP, traders are cautious ahead of Friday's Alaska summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Stephen Schork of the Schork Group warned that a failed meeting could lead to 'stronger sanctions on Russian oil, making it much more difficult for this oil to get to the market.'
Key regional indices at 0230 GMT showed Tokyo's Nikkei 225 up 0.9% at 43,036.46, Shanghai Composite up 0.3% at 3,675.05, Hang Seng down 1.1% at 25,236.62, and Brent crude slipping 0.1% to $66.76 per barrel.
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