Asian stocks move closer to hopes of recovery after Chinese data

SINGAPORE – Asian markets were mostly up on Thursday, slowing Chinese industrial production leaving traders hoping for new insurance from Beijing.

Japan's benchmark, Nikkei 225, rose 0.7% to 21,431.28 and Kospi in South Korea rose 0.1% to 2,149.48. Hang Seng of Hong Kong added 0.1% to 28,840.30. The Australian S & P / ASX 200 rose 0.1% to 6,167.00.

The Shanghai Composite lost 0.6% to 3.010.06. Shares were stable in Taiwan but fell in Singapore and the Philippines.

China's industrial output rose 5.3 percent in the first two months of 2019 compared to the same period last year, according to official data on Thursday. It was weaker than expected and the slowest pace of growth in 17 years.

But other numbers have exceeded badysts' expectations. Retail sales increased 8.2% and capital investments increased 6.1% over the same period. The National Bureau of Statistics combines the January and February readings to take into account the Lunar New Year holidays, where many factories and businesses are closed.

"The panoply of figures that characterized industrial production was missing most sharply, at 5.3% from one year to the other against a consensus of 5.6%," said Pan Jingyi. IG in an interview.

"The focus should be on economic policies very soon and expectations regarding all the policies announced so far to help support economic performance," she said.

On Wall Street, stocks posted their third consecutive gain on Wednesday after health care and technology companies rose. Boeing briefly dipped, but eventually ended up slightly, as the United States joined forces with much of the world to shut down its 737 Max 8 after a fatal accident in Ethiopia on Sunday.

The broad S & P 500 index rose 0.7% to 2,810.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to $ 25,702.89 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7% to 7,643.41. The Russell 2000 stock index of smaller companies was up 0.4% at 1,555.88.

Oil prices rose after a weekly report from the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil inventories had fallen by 3.9 million barrels over the previous week. This marked the second drop in three weeks.

The benchmark US crude rose 10 cents to 58.36 dollars a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He earned $ 1.39 to settle at $ 58.26 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent, used for the price of international oil, rose 17 cents to 67.72 dollars a barrel. He earned 88 cents to close at $ 67.55 a barrel in London.

The dollar strengthened to 111.59 yen against 111.17 yen on Wednesday night. The euro rose from 1.1332 dollar to 1.1325 dollar.

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