Drone point view of the Shanghai skyline at sunrise.
Aerialperspective Images | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Friday, as investors assessed key China data to gauge the state of the world’s second-largest economy.
Data from China showed retail sales rose by 2.3% in April from a year earlier. The reading was less than the 3.8% increase forecast by a Reuters poll, and slower than the 3.1% pace reported in March.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.48%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index was flat after the data.
Investors also assessed data from Singapore, which showed non-oil domestic exports in April declined by 9.3%, slower than the preceding month.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.36%, while the broad-based Topix reversed early declines to add 0.23%.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.76% after the country’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.8% in April, while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 1.39%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.49%.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower, after briefly jumping above 40,000 for the first time.
The blue-chip index hit a high of 40,051.05. It had neared the 40,000 mark earlier this year before a slight April pullback on worries over high interest rates.
During the session, the S&P 500 also climbed to a new record after closing above the 5,300 level for the first time ever on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also hit an all-time high.
The 30-stock Dow ended the day down 0.1% at 39,869.38. The S&P 500 fell 0.21%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished the day 0.26% lower.
— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
