On May 15, stocks in Asia were little changed as the data connected with China’s industrial profits affected the markets. Interestingly, industrial profits surpassed expectations. Let’s have a look at the Chinese stocks.
Importantly, mainland Chinese stocks were mixed on Friday. The Shanghai Composite slightly declined to around 2,868.46. At the same time, the Shenzhen Composite gained 0.159% to about 1,808.56.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was mostly flat, as of its final hour of trading.
Moreover, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.62% to 20,037.47. In the meantime, the Topix index added 0.5% to end its trading day at 1,453.77.
South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.12% to close at 1,927.28.
Also, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.43% to 5,404.80 as shares of major miner BHP added 3.46%.
The economy of China and markets
Investors are closely monitoring the situation as they want to know what is going on with the world’s second-largest economy. Thus, it is important to take into account the state of the local economy as it affects the markets.
As mentioned above, China’s industrial profits exceeded expectations. China’s industrial output added 3.9% year-on-year in April. This information comes from the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. Moreover, that marks the first expansion in 2020 from China.
Interestingly, analysts expected the industrial output to increase by 1.5%. However, retail sales declined by 7.5% in April. Importantly, China was able to restart its economy following lockdown measures. The coronavirus started in Wuhan and had a huge impact on the local economy. Nevertheless, the government, companies as well as people reached this goal.
Last but not least, let’s have a look at U.S. stocks. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 377.37 points to 23,625.34. Moreover, the S&P 500 ended its trading day 1.15% higher at 2,852.50. Also, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9% at 8,943.72.
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