Pedestrians walk past a share prices board in Tokyo. Japanese stocks edged up 0.38%  at 20,463.33 points yesterday.

AFP/Tokyo


Asian markets mostly rose yesterday after data showed China’s economy grew more than expected in the second quarter, although Shanghai and Hong Kong sank on fears the news will likely put off any fresh growth-boosting measures.
Investors were also awaiting testimony later in the day from US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen on the bank’s plans for hiking interest rates.
Tokyo stocks edged up 0.38% or 78 points to close at 20,463.33 while Sydney climbed 1.05% or 58.8 points to close at 5,636.2.
Seoul gained 0.66%, or 13.68 points, to end at 2,072.91.
But Shanghai sank 3.03%, or 118.78 points, to 3,805.70 and Hong Kong dropped 0.25%, or 65.15 points, to end at 25055.76.
In other markets, Wellington rose 0.96% or 55.08 points to 5,805.96; Fletcher Building was up 1.12% at NZ$8.12 and Spark lifted 0.88% to NZ$2.865.
Taipei edged up 0.14% or 12.44 points to end at 9,054.20.
Manila closed 0.27%, or 20.28 points, higher at 7,559.04; BDO Unibank gained 0.95% to 105 pesos while Alliance Global Group added 0.67% to 22.45 pesos.
Jakarta ended down 0.65%, or 31.96 points, at 4,869.85; real estate firm Bumi Serpong Damai gained 3.89% to 1,870 rupiah, while Bank BNI slipped 4.25% to 5.075 rupiah.
Singapore rose 0.67%, or 22.36 points, to close at 3,338.86; banking giant DBS climbed 0.71% to Sg$21.20 and vehicle distributor Jardine Cycle and Carriage jumped 1.21% to Sg$31.90.
Malaysia gained 0.36%, or 6.16 points, to 1,727.26; utility giant Tenaga rose 1.28% to 12.66 ringgit, Sime Darby added 0.58% to 8.60 while Telekom lost 0.15% to 6.69 ringgit.
Bangkok slipped 0.11%, or 1.66 points, to 1,486.74; Airports of Thailand fell 2.25% to 304 while coal mining company Banpu gained 0.98% to 25.75.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the world’s number two economy expanded 7.0% year on year in April-June, the same as the previous three months and better than the median forecast of 6.9% in an AFP survey of 14 economists.
The data follows a slew of disappointing results that have led to a series of measures—including four interest rate cuts since November—to shore up stumbling growth.
Bernard Aw, a Singapore-based strategist at IG Asia, told Bloomberg News: “The GDP numbers are really good. The better-than- expected GDP reading suggested that Beijing may take its foot off the pedal on more stimulus measures for the time being. This will affect sentiment in the stock market.”
Despite the losses in Shanghai, confidence is slowly returning after the massive losses suffered since hitting a June 12 peak. A painful stock sell-off that saw a more than 30% fall and spread to other markets was only halted Thursday after authorities unveiled a raft of strict measures to prevent a crash.
The index climbed 13% from Thursday to Monday before retreating over the past two sessions.
Dealers will be closely following Yellen’s twice-yearly appearance at Congress to find more clues about monetary policy, with expectations for an interest rate hike by September.
The Fed boss has in the past said she sees rates normalising by the end of the year, and the case for such a move increased Monday with Greece’s bailout reform deal that keeps it in the eurozone.
Fed policymakers have been concerned about announcing a hike while there was the possibility of a Greek euro exit, which would hit the global economy.
On Wall Street, the Dow climbed 0.42%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.45% and the Nasdaq jumped 0.66%.
With the likelihood of a rise growing the dollar climbed to ¥123.57 in Tokyo from ¥123.38 in New York.
The euro stood at $1.1022 compared with $1.1008 and ¥136.22 against ¥135.82 in US trade.
Japan’s currency edged lower after its central bank cut annual growth and inflation forecasts for the world’s third-largest economy, boosting the odds of more monetary easing measures this year.
Oil prices were mixed. Analysts said an agreement between the West and Iran on the country’s nuclear programme—which will likely see a flood of crude on to global markets as sanctions are lifted—had largely been factored in by now.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery added one cent to $53.05 and Brent crude for August climbed four cents to $58.47.
Gold fetched $1,154.88 compared with $1,154.50 late Tuesday.