Shares were lower in Asia on Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street, despite the release of data showing Japan’s economy resumed its long-time expansion in the past quarter.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index declined 1 percent to 165.45, up 0.1 percent from last week’s 165.25 points.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended down 44.39 points, or 0.4 percent, at 10,983.68, down 0.3 percent from last week’s 11,012.43.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index on Friday lost 1.3 percent to 22,298.08 and TOPIX fell 1.1 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 1. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3 percent to 2,786.97 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 declined 0.2 percent to 6,282.00.
In South Korea, the KOSPI lost 0.9 percent to 2,282.50.
India’s Sensex fell 0.3 percent to 37,944.19.
The Japanese economy expanded at a 1.9 percent annual pace in the April-to-June period, rebounding from a 0.6 percent contraction in the previous quarter, the government reported.
Quarterly growth in GDP of the world’s third-largest economy was 0.5 percent.
The recovery was driven mainly by better-than-expected domestic demand, while trade exerted a slight drag on growth, analysts said.
“While GDP started expanding again in the second quarter, growth isn’t as vigorous as last year. With the economy running into capacity constraints, we think that activity will remain sluggish for now,” Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics Ltd said in a commentary.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares ended 1.6 percent lower, while the IT sector closed down 0.51 percent, the financial sector finished 0.96 percent lower and property sector ended 0.2 percent down.
The top gainer on Hang Seng was China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd (中國海外發展) up 2.59 percent, while the biggest loser was Hang Seng Bank Ltd (恒生銀行), which closed down 3.42 percent.
Additional reporting by CNA, with staff writer
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