BANGKOK (AP) — Stocks in Asia were mixed Monday after China reported factory production slowed in May, while the real estate market remained in deep doldrums.
U.S. futures headed lower and oil prices fell.
Shares fell 1.9% in Tokyo to 38,070.40 and in Seoul the Kospi fell 0.5% to 2,744.63. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2% to 7,712.90.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% to 17,960.09, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.6% to 3,015.95.
Factory output fell 5.6% in China in May, the government reported, below analysts’ expectations and slowing from 6.7% the month before. Retail sales rose just 4.1% in the first five months of the year.
These meager figures are overshadowed by real estate investments, which fell by 10% in May compared to a year earlier, while house prices in major cities fell by 3.2%.
Property sales fell 30.5% year-on-year, further evidence that a series of measures to reverse the property sector’s slump have yet to take hold.
Most markets in Southeast Asia were closed for holidays, while Thailand’s SET lost 1.2%.
On Friday, U.S. stocks hovered around record levels, with the S&P 500 down less than 0.1% to 5,431.60, the first time last week it didn’t hit a record high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 38,589.16, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1% to its record high set a day earlier on gains for technology stocks, closing at 17,688.88.
In Europe, stocks fell after elections that increased uncertainty about the region’s future.
Victories by far-right parties have increased pressure on the French president in particular, and investors fear this could weaken the European Union, delay budget plans and ultimately damage France’s ability to pay its debts. Recent elections have also shaken markets in Mexico, India and elsewhere.
France’s CAC 40 fell 2.7% to take its loss for the week to 6.2%, its worst in more than two years. The German DAX lost 1.4%.
US stocks have set records as hopes grow that inflation will slow enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Big tech stocks, meanwhile, continue to race ahead almost regardless of what the economy and interest rates are doing.
Adobe rose 14.5% after reporting stronger earnings for its latest quarter than analysts expected.
Broadcom rose 3.3% for the second day in a row after reporting better-than-expected earnings and a 10-to-one stock split to make the price more affordable. Nvidia gained 1.8% as the textbook example of the rush to artificial intelligence technology sees its total market value rise even further to over $3 trillion.
A preliminary report from the University of Michigan shows that sentiment among American consumers did not improve this month, contrary to economists’ expectations.
High mortgage rates have hurt the housing market as the Federal Reserve has kept its key interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades. The central bank deliberately slows down the economy through high interest rates, hoping to prevent the high inflation of its fuel.
In other trades early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude lost 30 cents to $77.75 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 30 cents to $82.32 a barrel.
The US dollar rose from 157.39 yen to 157.52 Japanese yen. The euro fell from $1.0705 to $1.0704.
