Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed after China reports weaker manufacturing in June | World

BANGKOK (`) – Stocks were mixed in Asia on Friday after China reported slower factory activity in June on weaker consumer spending and export demand.

Tokyo and Sydney fell while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong rose. US futures were little changed and oil prices rose.

Adding to signs the economic recovery is weakening after anti-virus controls ended, an official survey showed China’s factory activity fell by another month in June as export orders fell.

The world’s second-largest economy rebounded after pandemic restrictions on travel and business activities ended in December. However, this rebound has been muted due to weak domestic consumer spending and weak demand for exports following interest rate hikes in the United States and Europe to cool inflation.

“Looking ahead, political support will be crucial to prevent a further slowdown in growth. Aside from a few token rate cuts, officials have so far been slow to respond by announcing meaningful stimulus measures,” Capital Economics’ Julian Evans-Pritchard said in a comment.

The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.8% to 3,207.27 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed at 18,938.73. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.6% to 33,030.23.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% to 7,185.90, while in Seoul the Kospi was up 0.4% to 3,206.14. Stocks fell in Taiwan but rose in Bangkok.

Most Wall Street stocks rose on Thursday after showing recent signs the US economy remains stronger than fears.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 4,396.44 and is on course for its sixth week of gains in the past seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.8% to 34,122.42, while the Nasdaq Composite was down less than 0.1% to 13,591.33.

Bond market yields soared after data showed the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2% in the first three months of the year, much faster than the previously estimated 1.3% rate. According to another report, fewer workers than expected filed for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the job market remains remarkably resilient despite much higher interest rates, which should weigh on the broader economy.

“The US economy is showing real signs of resilience right now,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY. “This has many rightly wondering whether the long-predicted recession is really inevitable.”

However, such resilience could lead the Federal Reserve to view the economy as strong enough to continue raising interest rates to bring down inflation.

The Fed has been raising interest rates at a rapid rate since the beginning of last year. High interest rates slow down inflation by weighing on the entire economy. They have already hurt manufacturing and other sectors while contributing to three high profile collapses in the US banking system.

The banks made the biggest profits. Wells Fargo was up 4.5%, JPMorgan Chase was up 3.5% and US Bancorp was up 2.9%.

The Federal Reserve said late Wednesday in its latest “stress test” of the system that the country’s 23 largest banks would be able to weather a severe recession. A failure of the test would have prevented banks from paying dividends or buying back their own shares to send cash to shareholders.

A stronger economy could also help banks make more money from lending, although higher interest rates could weigh on their balance sheets.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned on Thursday that the central bank may need to tighten regulation of the system after several banks collapsed because rising interest rates are reducing the value of the bonds they buy and other investments when interest rates are extremely low were, decreased.

Micron Technology fell 4.1%, posting another of the biggest declines in the S&P 500, after the company forecast a bigger loss for the summer than analysts had expected after Beijing ordered Chinese companies not to use its products.

In other trading on Friday, the dollar rose to 144.80 Japanese yen from 144.77 yen. The euro rose to $1.0876 from $1.0867.

U.S. benchmark crude rose 9 cents to $69.95 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price rose 30 cents to $69.86 a barrel on Thursday.

Brent crude, the international price standard, rose 18 cents to $74.69 a barrel.

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` business journalist Stan Choe contributed.

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