Investing.com – Asian equity markets were mixed on Friday afternoon, after China reported better-than-expected industrial output and retail sales, but investment fell to a new low.
The country’s industrial output rose 6.1% in August compared to the same period last year, and retail sales climbed 9%, exceeding market expectations, while the fixed asset investment growth slowed to 5.3% in the first eight months in 2018, below Reuter’s forecast of 6% and a new low.
“China’s economy is on a gradual deceleration trend, but at this moment it’s still fine. The government won’t change the direction of deleveraging. They will only change the pace of it, because the economy is still fine at this stage,” said Macquarie Securities Ltd Economist Larry Hu.
China’s Shanghai Composite cut gains and dropped 0.16% at 01:26AM ET (05:26 EMT) and SZSE Component slipped 0.58%, while the Hang Seng Index edged up 0.84%.
Amidst the trade war with the U.S., China’s State Councilor Wang Yi said last Thursday that the world trade system needs reform, after meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“China supports necessary reforms and perfection of the current system, including to the WTO, to make it fairer, more effective and more rations,” said Wang.
“The aim of the reform should be to allow countries to enjoy the fruit of globalization more fairly, not to further widen the differences between the south and the north.”
His remarks came after the possible renewed trade talks in Washington to avoid the trade war jitters to escalate, and U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that the White House “was under no pressure to make a deal with China.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said that Macau casino shares are poised for a 50% rebound, as the Macau gaming measure jumped 3.7% in the morning. The shares of MGM China Holdings Ltd, Sands China Ltd and Wynn Macau Ltd all climbed in the morning.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended gains and hiked 0.95% and South Korea’s KOSPI also went up 1.26%, while down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.7%.
The U.S. is also set to release its data on retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment on Friday.