Asian Shares Mixed, Investors Look to China Data

Stocks in Australia and South Korea were lower early Thursday ahead of economic data from China, while a weaker yen helped Japanese stocks move higher.

The main economic event of the day will come from China, with the release of January's preliminary HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index. The final reading for December came out earlier in the month and showed decelerating growth in factory activity, with a score of 50.5, from November's 50.8. A score above 50 indicates an increase in manufacturing, while score a below points towards contraction.

There have already been signs of an economic slowdown in China, the latest being from earlier this week when China reported that growth in gross domestic product had slowed to 7.7% on-year in the fourth quarter, from 7.8% in the third. Concerns over the economy have made Chinese stocks one of the worst performers in the region, with the Shanghai Composite down 3% so far this year.

South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6%, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.1% ahead of the Chinese data.

A number of company reports were in focus in Australia, with Newcrest Mining rose 1.9% after the gold miner reported that it had cut spending at a faster-than-expected rate, which had reduced the cost of sustaining operations by 16% in the final three months of 2013.

Oil and gas producer Santos, beat the downward move of the broader market in Sydney, moving 0.6% higher after it reported revenue growth of 12% on year for the 2013 fiscal year.

Japanese stocks managed to move higher, as the yen shifted closer to the Yen105 to the dollar mark. The Nikkei added 0.6%, with the dollar last at Yen104.77 compared to Yen104.52 late Wednesday in New York.

Write to Daniel Inman at [e-mail]

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