SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks were largely lower Thursday morning as investors reacted to the release of China’s April industrial earnings data.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6%. Xiaomi’s shares in Hong Kong rose more than 2% on Thursday morning after the Chinese smartphone maker saw sales jump nearly 55% in the first quarter on Wednesday compared to the same period last year.
Mainland Chinese stocks were lower in early trading, with the Shanghai Composite falling 0.33% while the Shenzhen Component falling 0.493%.
Industrial profits in China rose 57% in April year over year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.82% while the Topix index fell 0.49%. In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.68%.
The Australian S & P / ASX 200 hovered over the flatline.
MSCI’s broadest index for stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan was down 0.57%.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, hit 90.177 after a recent surge from below 89.7.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.17 per dollar, weaker than below 108.9 versus the greenback seen yesterday. The Australian dollar was trading at $ 0.7728 compared to levels above $ 0.777 yesterday.
Oil prices were lower on the morning of trading hours in Asia and the international benchmark Brent crude oil futures fell about 0.4% to $ 68.60 a barrel. US crude oil futures were down 0.44% to $ 65.92 a barrel.
