Asia markets open mixed as investors await China economic data
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed Friday, as investors awaited key economic data from China and assessed Japan’s inflation numbers.
China’s third-quarter GDP is expected to come in at 4.5%, as estimated by economists in a Reuters poll, compared with 4.7% growth in the prior quarter.
China is set to release its house prices index for September at 9:30 a.m. local time.
For September, economists expect a mixed picture in China’s economy, with urban investment estimated to grow 3.3% year on year, slower than 3.4% in the prior month, while retail sales could rise 2.5% on year, faster growth than last month’s 2.1%, according to data from LSEG.
Industrial production is expected to expand 4.5% in September from a year ago.
Japan’s headline inflation for September came in at 2.5%, while core CPI — which excludes fresh food prices — rose 2.4% year on year compared with Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 0.5% higher while the broad-based Topix rose 0.34%.
South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi was almost flat, while the small-cap Kosdaq slipped 0.22%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,974, compared with its previous close of 20,079.1.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 0.42%. (Cay)
Source: CNBC
