Australian shares gain on employment data, upcoming China data in focus

Investing.com - Australian stocks gained Thursday on the back of stronger than expected employment numbers, while the rest of Asia focused on upcoming Chinese economic data.

China is due to release February industrial output (seen up 9.5% year-on year), retail sales (a 13.5% year-on-year gain expected) and investment data (seen up 19.4% year-on-year) at 1330 in Beijing (0530 GMT).

Beijing uses the first two months of the year together in order to smooth out distortions created by the Chinese New Year holiday.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% and the Australian dollar rose to sharply after data showed that the number of people employed in Australia rose by 47,300 in February -- much higher than expectations of a 18,000 increase.

Although the unemployment rate remained steady at a decade's high of 6%, the market welcomed the increase in the number of fulltime workers. Recent data out of Australia has been mixed with deteriorating business conditions and consumer sentiment offsetting rising house prices.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.2% with the yen essentially flat. South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3%. The Bank of Korea announce its rate stance 1000 local time (0100 GMT) and the Bank Indonesia is also set to review rates with an announcement expected around 1000 GMT.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite was 0.4% higher.

The region remains skittish about the health of the Chinese economy after data released over the weekend showed a sharp decline in exports in the world's second largest economy.

In Australia which relies on China as atop export destination for resources like iron ore, large mining stocks picked up from losses earlier in the week that were caused by sharp falls in commodity prices. Rio Tinto rose by 1.9% and Fortescue Metals Group added 3.2%.

Shares in Sunshine 100 China Holdings sank 14.3% on their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The real estate company, which has developed projects in 16 cities across China, raised $258 million in an IPO earlier this month, after pricing its offering at the low-end of its price range.

Escalating tensions in Ukraine sent stocks closing mixed on Wednesday, with investors preferring to remain on the sidelines awaiting the release of U.S. retail sales on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.37%.

Leaders of the Group of Seven largest industrial nations warned Russia on Wednesday not to annex Crimea.

In a joint statement, the leaders said Russian annexation of Crimea "could have grave implications for the legal order that protects the unity and sovereignty of all states."

Should Russia take the step, the G-7 said it would respond with further action "individually and collectively."

Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk met with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier in the day, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continued, though investors remained in a wait-and-see mode.

European indices, meanwhile, finished lower.

After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.79%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.00%, while Germany's DAX 30 fell 1.28%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 fell 0.97%.

On Thursday, the U.S. is to release data on retail sales and import prices, in addition to the weekly government report on initial jobless claims.

Markets are eager for retail sales data to gauge how big of role rough winter weather played in a recent bout of soft economic indicators.