Mixed trend in Asian stock markets
In Asian markets, investors are evaluating China’s May exports and Japan’s household data exceeding expectations.
Asia-Pacific Stock Exchanges were mixed on Friday as investors looked at economic data from China and digested Japan’s wage figures, while markets also weighed the European Central Bank’s interest rate cut.
China’s May exports beat expectations, rising 7.6 percent compared to the 6 percent economists expected and well above the 1.5 percent increase seen in April. Imports increased by 1.8 percent on an annual basis.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.63 percent, reversing earlier gains following the release of trading data, while China’s CSI 300 index saw a larger loss of 0.73 percent.
Japan announced household spending figures for April. The average monthly consumption expenditure per household was 313,300 yen in April; This figure increased by 3.4 percent in nominal terms and 0.5 percent in real terms. This was the first increase in real household spending since February 2023.
April salaries are an important factor to monitor, as wage increases generally occur in this month, which marks the beginning of Japanese companies’ fiscal years.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.11 percent, while the broad-based Topix fell slightly.
In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.84 percent as investors returned from the public holiday, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.31 percent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.41 percent.