Asian stocks pare gains after China data
Asian stock markets pare gains after disappointing China factory output figures
A man stops and looks at Japan's Nikkei stock update on an electric board at a securities firm in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. Asian stock markets sank Wednesday as recent falls in Chinese copper and iron prices added to jitters that the world's No. 2 economy is continuing to slow. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Asian stock markets pared gains Thursday as concerns about China's economy resurfaced after lackluster factory production and other data.
China said its industrial production rose 8.6 percent in the first two months of this year, a rate slower than analysts expected, and home sales dropped 5 percent. After the reports, stocks in Hong Kong and Japan turned negative while markets in South Korea and China trimmed earlier gains. Other figures, such as retail sales growth in China also fell short of estimates.
Japan's Nikkei 225 drifted 0.1 percent lower to 14,815.98 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng sank 0.4 percent to 21,807.55. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.9 percent to 2,015.03.
South Korea's Kospi added just 0.1 percent to 1,934.38. The Bank of Korea kept its interest rate steady for another month but its governor said domestic consumer demand is picking up.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.5 percent to 5,412.60. Stocks in Taiwan and Indonesia also advanced.
New Zealand's currency and its stock market rose after the country's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by quarter of a percentage point to 2.75 percent in the first such rate hike by a developed nation since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Asian markets were sold off Wednesday by worries over China's economic outlook and subsequent drops in commodity prices.
The price of copper extended its losses amid expectations that a slowdown in China, a major consumer of raw materials and energy, would cut global demand for those commodities.
Oil eked out gains with a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery up 8 cents to $98.07 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.04, or 2 percent, to close at $97.99 on Wednesday.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3940 from $1.3904 late Wednesday. The dollar fell to 102.59 yen from 102.72 yen.
