SYDNEY : Asia's stock markets were mixed on Wednesday with growth concerns dragging on China's equities while shares gained in Japan and Australia after healthy U.S. company earnings and retail data added to hopes that a recession there can be avoided.
Japan's Nikkei rose more than 1 per cent to touch a two-week peak. Overnight the S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent to hit a three-month high, with results propelling bank shares. Futures were flat in Asia. The Atlanta Fed's influential GDP Now tracker has the U.S economy growing an annualised 2.4 per cent in the second quarter, slightly higher than it's prediction of 2.3 per cent a week earlier.
"That the language stemmed from an often-hawkish voice certainly turned heads and drove European sovereign debt markets stronger and lower in yield," said Brian Daingerfield, head of G10 currency research at NatWest Markets in New York. The yen slipped a fraction to 139.11 per dollar and Japanese government bonds rallied following with the Bank of Japan's governor sticking to his script that policy shifts are still some time away. The Fed, ECB and BOJ all meet next week.