Market Update
Asian markets ended mixed Friday amid batch of data from China that mostly matched forecasts.
The Nikkei was up 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.9% while the Hang Seng was up 0.6%. The Sensex fell 1.4% while the All Ordinaries declined 0.4%.
Data showed China's industrial production grew 8.8% in May from a year earlier while retail sales were up 12.5% over April’s 11.9%.
The growth in industrial production mostly matched forecasts while the retail sales growth was slightly higher than expectations.
In Japan, the apex bank expectedly decided to continue its easing campaign. At the conclusion of its two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan also raised its view on overseas economies, saying that mainly the advanced economies are recovering, although slowly.
Energy shares moved higher across the region as oil prices were driven up by Iraqi militants marching towards Baghdad and the U.S. warning of air strikes in response.
Stocks on the Move
Inpex Corp. climbed 4.5% while Japan Petroleum Exploration added 2.1%.
Advantest gained 3.6% after the Nikkei reported the tech company hiked its full-year operating-margin target.
Among the exporters, Sony was up 0.4% while Panasonic and Sharp added 2.1% and 2.6% each, respectively. Canon and Olympus were up about half a percent while Fujitsu added 1.5%.
Lenovo added 1.5% after Intel hiked its outlook for both the quarter and the full year, citing strong business demand for PCs.
Oil major CNOOC and Sinopec both climbed 1.8% each, respectively.
Oil and gas stocks also fell in Mumbai and investors booked profits after the heady rise of the Sensex over the last few sessions. ONGC and Gail India were down 1.5% and 3.6% each, respectively. Outside the Sensex, BPCL slumped 5.1% while HPCL gave up over 8%. IOC fell 5.1%.
Sensex heavyweight RIL ended 1.2% lower. Other top losers on the index included Axis Bank, down 4.5%, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Steel, down 4.4% each, NTPC, down 4.3%, and Hindalco, down 3.9.
Miners were lower in Sydney after a drop in iron-ore prices. Index leader BHP Billiton fell 1.2% while Rio Tinto fell 1.9%. Fortescue Metals dropped 6.2% while Atlas Iron weakened 4.1%.
A gain for gold futures pushed gold shares higher and Newcrest shone 1.8% while St. Barbara also brightened 3.6%.