Investing.com - Asian markets rose in morning trade on Wednesday, recovering from a slump earlier this week amid intensifying trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component gained 1% and 1.1% respectively by 10:30 AM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.7%.
Growth in China's industrial output slowed to 5.4% in April from a four-and-a-half year high in March, data showed earlier. Analysts previously expected industrial output to grow 6.5%.
Fixed-asset investment rose 6.1% in January-April from the same period last year, also lagging expectations. Private-sector fixed-asset investment, which accounts for about 60% of overall investment in China, rose 5.5% in the same period.
Another report showed that retail sales rose 7.2% in April on-year, missing a forecast rise of 8.6%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier Foxconn (TW:2317) reported net profit of T$19.82 billion ($637.26 million) for the first three months of 2019, down 17.7% from the same period a year earlier.
Another Apple supplier, Japan-listed Japan Display Inc (T:6740), rose more than 3% after the Nikkei Business Daily reported that the company is considering slashing a fifth of its parent-only workforce, as it eyes a bailout from a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium.
The Nikkei 225 edged down 0.1%. Auto shares underperformed today after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (T:7201)’s unexpected loss forecast and dividend cut.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.6%. Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 also traded 0.6% higher.
Tension between the U.S. and China intensified this week after China announced on Monday that it would raise tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. imports from June 1 in retaliation for the Trump administrations' decision last week to increase tariffs on Chinese imports.
Market sentiment found some support however, after Trump said it would become apparent “in about three or four weeks” whether trade talks with China were successful. He then predicted that China’s next move would be a rate cut, and he urged the Federal Reserve to do the same to help the U.S. to win the trade war.
“China will be pumping money into their system and probably reducing interest rates, as always, in order to make up for the business they are, and will be, losing. If the Federal Reserve ever did a “match,” it would be game over, we win! In any event, China wants a deal!” he tweeted.