Asian stock markets mixed as Japan growth stalls in Q2

Tokyo slipped 0.61 percent, or 56.79 points, to end at 9,196.67 while Sydney dropped 0.47 percent, or 21.1 points, to 4,438.5.

However, Hong Kong reversed earlier losses to end 0.19 percent, of 40.55 points, higher at 21,112.12, while Shanghai surged 2.11 percent, adding 55.01 points to 2,661.71.

Japan announced its gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at the slowest pace in the past three quarters in the April-June period as the export-led recovery faltered due to crumbling demand at home and abroad.

The government said the economy grew an annualized 0.4 percent in the June quarter, from a revised 4.4 percent in the previous three months and well off the 2.3 percent growth predicted by a Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists.

On a quarterly basis, growth was at 0.1 percent, down from a revised 1.1 percent in the previous quarter.

“It was a negative surprise,” said Yoshiki Shinke, Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute senior economist. “Such figures were very much unexpectedly weak.”

The Japanese data follows several weeks of downbeat figures that suggest the global economy's recovery from recession is stalling.

In recent weeks the United States has released weak jobs data while China's growth has slowed.

Monday's figures also raised the prospect that Japan will relinquish its title of world's second biggest economy to China.

While remaining just ahead of China in nominal terms in the first half, Japan slipped behind its Asian rival in the April-June period, government data showed.

On a nominal basis, Japan's GDP was at US$2.578 trillion compared to China's US$2.532 trillion in the first half, the cabinet office said in a preliminary estimate.

But Japan's second quarter GDP was smaller than China's, at US$1.288 trillion compared with US$1.336 trillion, according to the government.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email