World shares retreat after China’s economy waned
BANGKOK — World share prices retreated after China reported Friday that its economy grew 6.0%, its slowest pace in 26 years, in the latest quarter.
Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower to 7,177.44 as Prime Minister Boris Johnson worked to persuade lawmakers to accept a newly struck deal for the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.
The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2% to 5,660.66 while Germany’s DAX reversed early losses, edging 0.1% higher to 12,665.69.
Wall Street looked poised for a tepid start, with the future contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.1% at 26,960.00 and that for the S&P 500 also 0.1% lower at 2,995.10.
The 6.0% growth pace China reported for July-September was worse than forecast and the slowest since the country began reporting quarterly data in 1993.
It ups pressures on global growth and to Chinese leaders’ efforts to avert politically dangerous job losses as they fight a tariff war with President Donald Trump.
Some of the latest data for September, such as investment and lending, showed improvement, but “pressure on economic activity should intensify in the coming months,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
“Cooling global demand will continue to weigh on exports, fiscal constraints mean that infrastructure spending will wane in the near-term and the recent boom in property construction looks set to unwind.”
The Shanghai Composite index gave up early gains, sinking 1.3% to 2,938.14, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5% to 26,709.07. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 declined 0.5% to 6,649.70 and the Kospi in South Korea skidded 0.8% to 2,060.69.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.2% to 22,492.68. Shares also rose in Jakarta but fell in the rest of Southeast Asia and in Taiwan.
Overnight, stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as investors welcomed another batch of encouraging quarterly results from big companies.
Despite a choppy week of trading, the benchmark S&P 500 index appears on track for its second straight weekly gain.
The breakthrough in negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union also helped put traders in a buying mood.
The tentative deal still faces a potentially tough fight for approval in Britain’s divisive Parliament.
In other trading, benchmark crude oil picked up 6 cents to $53.99 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 57 cents to settle at $53.93 a barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, lost 11 cents to $59.80 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 108.67 Japanese yen from 108.66 yen on Thursday. The euro fell to $1.1123 from $1.1126.