Investing.com - Shares in China were lower in morning trade as investors noted the pickup in Chinese imports, but still sluggish exports.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.12% after the data and heading into the midday break. Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.24% despite better than expected second quarter GDP and the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.91%.
China reported a trade balance surplus of $52.05 billion, narrower than the $58.00 billion seen for August with exports down 2.8%, less than the 4.0% decline seen year-on-year, and imports up 1.5%, beating an expected 4.9% drop and making the first gain in 22 months as global commodity prices show signs of a rebound.
Earlier, Japan said second quarter GDP showed a surprise 0.2% gain, from a flat level expected quarter-on-quarter and rose at a 0.7% pace year-on-year, well above the 0.2% gain seen. Real second quarter GDP was revised up from a preliminary estimate of 0.048% on quarter, confirming the economy has fluctuated sharply, contracting twice last year. Modest growth is expected to continue but consumer spending is sluggish amid slow wage growth while exports remain weak due to the global slowdown.
As well, Japan reported the adjusted current account with a surplus of ¥1.45 trillion,below the ¥1.59 trillion surplus seen and an un-adjusted current account surplus of ¥1.938 trillion, also below an expected ¥2.09 trillion surplus. Also in Japan, bank lending for August rose 2.0% year-on-year as expected.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Financials sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Goods, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.15%.