Asian Markets Mixed, Economists cut China’s GDP Forecasts

 Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower on Tuesday, as various firms downgraded China’s GDP forecasts.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday slashed its China GDP growth expectations to 7.8%, down from the 8.2% previously forecast.

Nomura also expected China’s GDP to grow by 7.7% this year, down from a previous forecast of 8.2%.

Still, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains regionally, jumping 1.2% on the day to 24,500.39.

Mainland Chinese stocks closed mixed, with the Shanghai composite up 0.54% to 3,602.22 while the Shenzhen component fell 0.212% to 14,313.82.

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.14% to close at 3,097.92. SK Innovation shares jumped 3.78% after the firm announced a plan with Ford Motor to invest more than $11 billion in new U.S. facilities to produce electric vehicles and batteries.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.19% lower at 30,183.96 while the Topix index shed 0.29% to finish the trading day at 2,081.77.

ADVERTISEMENT

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dropped 1.47% on the day to 7,275.60. Australia’s retail sales fell 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis in August, data from the country’s Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. That was higher than market forecasts for a 2.5% decline, according to Reuters.

Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 71.37 points to 34,869.37 while the S&P 500 shed 0.28% to 4,443.11. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.52% to 14,969.97.

The mixed moves on Wall Street came as the 10-year Treasury yield crossed 1.5% on Monday, its highest since June. It later moved further above those levels and last sat at 1.5478%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Asian Markets Oil and Currencies

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.86% to $80.21 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 1.03% to $76.23 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.512 against an earlier low of 93.363.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.28 per dollar following a weakening from below 110.6 against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7263, off an earlier high of $0.7311.