Australia shares up on Westpac survey, Nikkei off despite strong Q1 GDP

Investing.com - Sydney eked out gains on Wednesday after an upbeat bank consumer confidence survey, but Tokyo fell despite stronger than expected GDP growth in the first quarter.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.11%, while the Nikkei 225 fell 0.12%. The Shanghai Composite however jumped 1.33%, while the Hang Seng eased 0.29% at the break.

Australia's Westpac Consumer Sentiment for May jumped 6.4% to 102.4, the highest since January 2014.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the minutes from the RBA's May meeting show it is relying on a continuing boost to household expenditure to encourage businesses to invest and employ - setting the economy on a path of a falling unemployment rate and above-trend growth in 2016.

"Such a scenario would be consistent with an extended period of steady interest rates," Evans said.

"The results from this survey will certainly provide some encouragement for the bank that households might continue to lift the pace of expenditure growth. Our view, for now, is that the most likely scenario is for an extended period of steady rates whilst recognizing that conditions in the labor market remain fragile and this latest boost to confidence will need to be sustained."

In Japan first quarter GDP rose 0.6% for an annualized pace of 2.4%, outstripping expectations of an 0.4% gain quarter-on-quarter and for a year-on-year pace of 1.5%.

Economists expect GDP to continue growing in the second quarter. The average economist forecast for second quarter GDP is an annualized 2.26%, according to the latest monthly ESP Survey of 40 economists by the Japan Center for Economic Research conducted from April 28 to May 7.

However, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari said after the release that weakness in the global economy remained a threat to sustained growth.

Overnight, stocks on the U.S. equities markets were mixed on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average used a late rally to set an all-time closing record for a second consecutive session amid one of the strongest months in residential construction on record.

The Dow gained 13.51 points or 0.07% to 18,312.39 on Tuesday to extend its winning streak to its fourth session. The Dow also closed at a record-high in early-March, but has fluctuated over the last two months following a wave of soft U.S. economic data.

Data on Tuesday showed that U.S. building permits and housing starts soared past expectations last month continued to support.

The U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month increased by 10.1% last month to 1.143 million units from March's total of 1.038 million.

Analysts expected building permits to rise by 2.2% to 1.060 million units in March.

The report also showed that U.S. housing starts soared by 20.2% in April to hit 1.135 million units from March's total of 944,000 units, easily surpassing expectations for an increase of 9.9% to 1.019 million.

A senior European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure said the central bank is planning to speed up the pace of its bond-buying stimulus program before the summer in order to avoid the "notably lower market liquidity" in late July and August.

Fears over the prospects of a Greek default also continued to pressure the single currency, even after the country’s labor minister said Tuesday that an agreement with its lenders on a cash-for-reforms deal would soon be reached.