Asian shares snapped their losing streak on Monday, despite weak data out of China which showed economic growth that was below forecast in multiple sectors. China reported a 6.4 percent increase on-year in industrial output in July, lower than the 7.4 percent expected.July retail sales also missed forecasts, rising 7.2 percent, lower than the 7.6 percent analysts expected. Despite these misses, Asian markets turned upwards on Monday morning with the Shanghai Composite up 0.41 percent as of 11:33 a.m. HK/SIN and South Korea’s Kospi up 0.64 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7 percent after declining 3 percent over the past three trading days due to escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was one of the only Asian indexes to see red on Monday morning, falling 1 percent due to the yen’s strength and better than expected second quarter economic growth.
Political tensions between the two countries are expected to continue weighing on Asian markets in the coming days. Also weighing on Asian markets is President Trump’s order to his top trade adviser to open an investigation into allegedly unfair Chinese trade practices. The Chinese press has responded to Trump’s forthcoming investigation by announcing that the move would ‘poison’ relations between the two countries. Trump responded by saying that he would relax his moves against China if China took a more aggressive stance against North Korea. Still, White House officials have denied that Trump is using trade to pressure China to join his agenda against North Korea.
The dollar was 0.24 percent higher against the yen in early Asian trade, trading at 109.40 yen, but the greenback was flat against most of its other primary trading partners including the euro, the loonie and the pound. Â Â
