Investing.com - Financial Markets Worldwide

Asian shares mixed with Tokyo, Sydney weaker, China lending data awaited

Published 05/14/2015, 12:16 AM
Updated 05/14/2015, 12:18 AM
© Reuters. Tokyo, Sydney lower in Asia
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Investing.com - Shares in Tokyo fell nearly 1% with Sydney close behind on Thursday, but China mangaed to show some gains with investors focused on possible lending data.

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.89% and the S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.78%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 0.30% and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.26%.

First quarter retail sales in New Zealand rose 2.7% quarter-on-quarter, well above the 1.5% gain expected, and a quarterly record, sowing the seeds for some doubt about a possible central bank rate cut later this year.

In Japan at 1500 (0600 GMT), the ESP forecast survey of economists on Japan's GDP and CPI outlook is due. An hour later, at 1600 (0700 GMT), the BoJ is due to hold a repo market forum with market participants.

There's also a chance China will release April money and credit data. forecasts show a slight dip in April new loans to a respectable CNY950 billion after March's reasonably strong CNY1.18 trillion while M2 is thought to have grown 11.9% against 11.6% in March.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.05% to 93.69.

Overnight, data showed that U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in April fuelling fresh concerns over the strength of the country's recovery.

The Commerce Department said retail sales were unchanged, compared to expectations for a 0.2% increase. March’s figure was revised up to show a 1.1% increase from 0.9%, but this was offset by underlying weakness in the report.

Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose just 0.1%, undershooting forecasts for a 0.5% gain.

The data underlined expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay hiking rates until later in the year, after recent figures showed that the U.S. economy expanded just 0.2% in the first quarter.

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