Asian markets recovered from early losses Monday, as China posted its weakest quarterly GDP growth in at least 27 years.
Data on Monday showed the world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.2% over a year earlier, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4%. The result was the slowest since the first quarter of 1992 when the earliest quarterly data was available, according to Dow Jones Newswires, and lower than the 6.3% median forecast from a Wall Street Journal poll of 14 economists.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
was last up 0.3% and the Shanghai Composite
gained 0.4%, after both indexes started the trading day with losses ahead of the GDP report. South Korea’s Kospi
was about flat, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan
, Singapore
and Indonesia
were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
was down 0.4%. Japan’s Nikkei was closed for a holiday.
Among individual stocks, PetroChina
and New World Development
fell in Hong Kong trading, along with Galaxy Entertainment
. Chip maker SK Hynix
rose in South Korea, while LG Electronics
slipped. Taiwan Semiconductor
gained in Taiwan, while Beach Energy
and Westpac Banking
fell in Australia.