Hang Seng Halts Three-Day Advance as China's Growth Reading Falls Short of Expectatio

Asian stocks pared gains in the wake of China’s GDP data, but remained mostly higher for the day, following the advance on Wall Street. The Nikkei rallied this morning, but failed to hold onto most of its gains as the index closed only 0.14% higher as the annual rate of growth in China slipped to 6.1% from 6.8% in the fourth quarter.

[B][U]Asia[/U][/B][B][U] Session Key Developments[/U][/B]

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· [B]China’s 1Q GDP slips to 6.1% from 6.8%[/B]

· [B]ASX pulls back after rising to the highest since January 7[/B]

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[B]Hang Seng Halts Three-Day Advance as China’s Growth Reading Falls Short of Expectations[/B]

Asian stocks pared gains in the wake of China’s GDP data, but remained mostly higher for the day, following the advance on Wall Street. The Nikkei rallied this morning, but failed to hold onto most of its gains as the index closed only 0.14% higher as the annual rate of growth in China slipped to 6.1% from 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Despite the dismal GDP reading for the first quarter, a separate government report showed that industrial outputs increased 8.3% from the previous year as the government poured money into state-owned companies, while retail spending rose 14.7%, and the rise in domestic activity spurred speculation that the downturn in China may have reaches a bottom as the government takes unprecedented steps to shore up the economy.

[B]NKY 225 8755.26[/B]

Most of the Japanese stocks slid lower, reversing the gains from the morning trade after China’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in almost a decade. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose merely 12.30 points, or 0.14% to 8755.26, which nearly erased the 3.3% jump seen during the session. Isuzu Motor Ltd., which gets a third of its sales in Asia outside Japan, dropped 3.2%, while Sparx Group Ltd., Asia’s biggest hedge fund manager, lost 9.1%, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest listed bank, declined 3.1%.

[B]HSI 15582.99[/B]

Hong Kong stocks retreated for the first time this week as China’s first quarter GDP reading fell short of expectations. The Hang Seng Index lost 86.63 points, or 0.6% to end the session at 15582.99, halting a three-day advance and paring gain of as much as 2% in the early trade, which led shares of Hang Lung Properties Ltd., a Hong Kong-based developer that invests in mainland China, to drop 2.1%.

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[B]ASX 200 3775.70[/B]

Australia’s ASX 200 Index rose 28.20 points, or 0.75% to close at 3775.70, after it touched 3804.2, which is the highest since January 7. The gains were led by banks, financial institutions and property companies however, the index pulled back from its intraday high following the drop in China’s GDP.

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[B][U]Notable Asian Session Event Risk / Economic Releases[/U][/B]

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