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Shares in the Asia Pacific were lower in trading on Tuesday afternoon as China’s inflation data for April fell short of expectations.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index led losses among the region’s major markets as it fell 1.78% in the afternoon. Mainland China shares also fell, with the Shanghai compound falling 0.59%, while the Shenzhen compound lost 0.653%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.15%, while the Topix index fell 0.29%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.83%.
Meanwhile, the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia fell 1.27%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index decreased 1.22%.
“It’s hard to see stocks go even higher,” Rob Carnell, chief economist and head of Asia-Pacific research at ING, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. He said much of the boost markets had received was attributable to the “extraordinary monetary and accommodative fiscal policies that governments around the world … have been launching into their ecoomies.”
“Surely we have had almost everything we are going to get from those,” Carnell said. “Any additional portion of stimulus will be quite marginal.”
On the economic data front, China’s inflation for April released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics fell short of expectations. The April consumer price index rose 3.3% yoy, against expectations of a 3.7% increase in a Reuters poll. Meanwhile, China’s producer price index for April declined 3.1% yoy, compared to a 2.6% drop expected in a Reuters poll.
Overnight in the United States, the Nasdaq Composite experienced its sixth consecutive day of gains, increasing 0.78% to close at approximately 9,192.34. The S&P 500 ended its largely stable trading day at 2,930.32, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 109.33 points to close at 24,221.99.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its peers, was at 100,238 after rising from the below-100 levels seen yesterday.
The Japanese yen was trading at 107.41 per dollar after seeing a previous low of 107.69. The Australian dollar changed hands to $ 0.6456 after falling from levels above $ 0.654 yesterday.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asian business hours, with internationally referenced Brent crude oil futures rising 0.2% to $ 29.69 a barrel. US crude oil futures also rose 0.95% to $ 24.37 a barrel.
