Mixed trading on Asian bourses amid weak global cues

Bangkok: Shares were mixed in Asia on Monday after China reported its factory output slowed in May, with the property market still deep in the doldrums. US futures edged lower and oil prices fell. Shares fell 1.9 per cent in Tokyo to 38,070.40 and in Seoul, the Kospi declined 0.5 per cent to 2,744.63. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.2 per cent to 7,712.90. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 per cent to 17,960.09, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.6 per cent to 3,015.95.

Factory output fell 5.6 per cent in China in May, the government reported, below analysts’ forecasts and slowing from 6.7 per cent the month before. Retail sales rose just 4.1 per cent in the first five months of the year. Overshadowing those lackluster numbers, property investments fell 10 per cent in May from a year earlier, while home prices in major cities fell 3.2 per cent. Property sales plunged 30.5 per cent year-on-year, in further evidence that a raft of measures to try to turn around a slump in the property sector have yet to take hold. Most markets in Southeast Asia were closed for holidays, while Thailand’s SET lost 1.2 per cent.

On Friday, US stocks hung around their record levels, with the S&P 500 down less than 0.1 per cent, to 5,431.60, the first time last week that it did not set an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 per cent, to 38,589.16, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1 per cent to its record set a day before on the back of gains for technology stocks, closing at 17,688.88.

In Europe, stocks sank following elections that have raised uncertainty over the region’s future. Wins by far-right parties have raised pressure on France’s president in particular, and investors worry it could weaken the European Union, stall fiscal plans and ultimately hurt France’s ability to pay its debt. Recent elections have also shaken markets in Mexico, India and elsewhere.