Major bourses in Asia-Pacific traded mainly in the red on Monday after a raft of Chinese economic data for July all missed forecasts. The official figures showed today factory output and retail sales growth in China slowing sharply in July while the surveyed urban unemployment rate ticked up to a three-month high. At the same time, fixed asset investment grew 10.3% in January-July, slowing from a 12.6% gain in the prior period. The Nikkei 225 led the losses, falling over 1.7% and trading at more than a 2-week low, as Japan’s economy grew by 0.3% qoq in Q2, rebounding more than expected but much weaker than that of other advanced economies including the US. Still, the Shanghai Composite gained after the PBoC today held steady the rate on CNY 600 billion worth of 1-year medium-term lending facility at 2.95% for the 16th month in a row, while rolling over CNY 700 billion of maturing MLF loans due on Tuesday. Stocks in South Korea were closed for a public holiday.
