Major stocks in Asia closed mixed on Thursday on the back of official data from China showing that the Chinese economy contracted for the second month in a row in January.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rebounded 216.95 points, or 1.1%, to 20,773.49, as shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group jumped 4.8%.
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe-haven currency, traded at 108.79 against the U.S. dollar after seeing lows above 109.6 yesterday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index sprang up 299.62 points, or 1.1%, to 27,942.47
South Korea, however, saw losses as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics slipped 0.5% after the company warned of weaker earnings in 2019 following a 29% plunge in its fourth quarter operating profit.
Australian markets also tailed off. Shares of oil companies advanced as the energy subindex rose 1.7% following Wednesday’s gain in oil prices.
Santos was higher by 2.7%, Woodside Petroleum rose 0.8% Beach Energy soared 5.1% after the company raised its production guidance for fiscal year 2019.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7266 U.S. after rising from levels above $0.714 in the previous session.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 regained 33.15 points, or 1.1%, to 3,201.63
The market movements came after China’s official data showed that manufacturing activity in January contracted for the second consecutive month.
The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January was 49.5, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics — higher than the 49.4 reported in the previous month.
In other markets
Markets in Taiwan were shuttered for holiday
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index recovered 15.79 points, or 0.5%, to 3,190.17
In Korea, the Kospi index dipped 1.35 points, or 0.1%, to 2,204.85
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 resurfaced 59.82 points, or 0.7%, to 8,985.34
In Australia, the ASX 200 lost 22.04 points, or 0.4%, 5,864.66
