Investing.com - Shares in Asia were mixed, with China extending earlier declines on Tuesday despite better than expected retail sales and industrial data as they await a widely expected Federal Reserve rate hike this week.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.73% and Shenzhen eased 0.57 percent. But the Nikkei 225 edged up 0.05%.
China reported retail sales jumped 10.8%, better than the 10.1% rise seen year-on-year for November, along with industrial production that gained 6.2%, a tick better than the expected 6.1% increase and fixed asset investment came in as seen up 8.3%.
Earlier Australia reported the house price index rose 1.5% in the third quarter, below the 2.3% gain seen, the weakest growth since the first quarter of 2013 and was down from a peak rise of 10.7% a year ago. As well, NAB business confidence came in at plus-5 in November, up a tick from plus-4 the previous month and the NAB business survey dipped to plus-5 from plus-6.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.33%.
NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster said if the weaker trend in the survey and other partials continued over coming months that would be a fairly definitive sign that the non-mining recovery has run out of steam. "For now though the weak Q3 GDP result is enough to warrant some downward revision to growth forecasts - even with some anticipated 'bounce-back' in coming quarters."
"Meanwhile, the rally in commodity prices is expected to be short-lived and is unlikely to translate into higher investment or wages at this point in the commodity cycle. Two more 25 bp rate cuts are still expected from
the RBA next year in response to ongoing low inflation and a more subdued growth outlook," he said.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Services, Financials and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.20% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.11%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.59%.