Asian markets were mixed in early trading Tuesday, after Wall Street rebounded from a rough week and China indicated its economic recovery sped up last month.
Japan’s Nikkei 225
NIK,
fell 0.6% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index
HSI,
rose 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP,
advanced 0.3% and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
399106,
gained 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi
180721,
rose 0.6% while benchmark indexes in Taiwan
Y9999,
, Singapore
STI,
and Indonesia
JAKIDX,
were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO,
was flat.
China reported Tuesday that retail sales returned to growth in August for the first time in 2020, rising 0.5% year over year. Industrial production also rose 5.6%, up from the previous month and topping analysts’ estimates.
“The activity data is about as strong a signal one could expect and will continue to support the steady economic growth recovery,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp, wrote in a note. “Assuming that COVID -19 remains under control in China, it should be safe to say activities will recover further amid supportive policies paving the way for a continuing and convincing growth rebound.”
Investors are also awaiting economic projections from the U.S. Federal Reserve at its policy meeting on Wednesday.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 327.69 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 27,993.33, after briefly trading above the 28,000 threshold. The S&P 500
SPX,
added 42.57 points, or 1.3%, closing at 3,383.54. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
climbed 203.11 points, or 1.7%, to end at 11,056.65, snapping a two-session losing streak.