The Asian stock markets are looking at a flat lead on Tuesday with a touch of weakness following bad news from the IMF, plus disappointing economic data from the United States.
The International Monetary Fund on Monday slashed its 2013 growth forecast for the global economy. In an update to its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook, the lender cut the world growth forecast for next year to 3.9 percent from 4.1 percent predicted in April.
In addition, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected drop in retail sales, falling 0.5 percent in June following a 0.2 percent decrease in May. The drop surprised economists, who had expected sales to edge up by 0.2 percent. With the decline, sales fell for the third straight month.
The major U.S. averages were down on Monday but well off their lows for the session. The Dow fell 49.88 points or 0.4 percent to finish at 12,727.21, while the NASDAQ slid 11.53 points or 0.4 percent to end at 2,896.94 and the S&P 500 edged down 3.14 points or 0.2 percent to 1,353.64.
The major European markets were mixed on Monday, closing roughly flat. The FTSE 100 of the U.K fell by 0.07 percent and the CAC 40 of France lost 0.03 percent. The DAX of Germany increased by 0.13 percent and the SMI of Switzerland gained 0.22 percent.
The Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday as Indonesia climbed 0.69 percent, while Malaysia added 0.59 percent, Thailand gained 0.33 percent, South Korea's KOSPI gathered 0.27 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.15 percent and Singapore's Straits Times collected 0.11 percent.
China's Shanghai Composite plummeted 1.74 percent and Taiwan shed 0.20 percent, while markets in Japan were closed on Monday in observance of Marine Day.
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