Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Monday with investors noting regional data sets from China and Japan and eyed an earthquake in New Zealand.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.25% after GDP figures, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.21% after a suite of industrial output, retail sales and fixed asset investment data.
China said fixed asset investment for October rose 8.3%, beating the 8.2% rise seen year-on-year and industrial production gained 6.1%, below the expected 6.2% rise seen and retail sales increased 10.0%, below the 10.7% increase seen.
Later, Japan reports industrial production for September which is seen flat month-on-month.
Earlier, Japan reported third quarter GDP jumped 0.5% quarter-on-quarter and at a 2.2% pace year-on-year, handily beating expected gains of 0.2% and 0.9% respectively. Economists expect Japan's economy to post continued modest growth in the final quarter of 2016, backed by a pickup in consumer sentiment and increased public works projects in the government's stimulus package.
Separately, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday urged companies to hike wages in line with the central bank's 2% sustained inflation target and said fiscal and monetary measures will remain keys to boosting the economy.
"Looking ahead on the overall economy, employment and income conditions are expected to continue improving. Business investment has been slow to emerge but if the corporate sector picks up, it will lead to an improvement in final demand," a Japan government official told the media.
The average economist forecast for Q4 GDP growth was an annualized 0.80%, according to the latest monthly ESP Survey of 42 economists by the Japan Center for Economic Research conducted from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.
Elsewhere, the kiwi fell in Asia on Monday after a strong earthquake and related aftershocks hit New Zealand near the city of Christchurch early Monday morning.
Last week, U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.21% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.54%.