Thursday, economic data from China dominated the news flow in Asia. The Chinese gross domestic product, or GDP, grew at a slower pace in the second quarter and inflation eased in June.
The National Bureau of Statistics said the Chinese economy grew 10.1% year-on-year in the second quarter after rising 10.6% in the first three months. A decline was widely expected in light of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province in May, as well as a generally moderating global economy.
In the first half of the year 2008, the economy expanded 10.4% year-on-year. That was slightly better than analyst expectations that called for an increase of between 10.1% and 10.3%.
The statistical office reported that food prices pushed up Chinese inflation to 7.9% in the first half of 2008. For the month of June, the consumer price index was up 7.1% year-on-year, slower than 7.7% increase seen in May. Meanwhile, China's producer price index climbed 7.6% in the first half and was 8.8% higher in June over the previous year.
The statistical office also said retail sales in China increased 21.4% year-on-year in the first half. For the month of June, retail sales added 23%. In the first half, China's industrial output was up 16.3%. In June, production rose 16% annually.
The official report also showed that fixed asset investment increased 26.3% in the first half, beating expectations that called for an increase of 25.4%.
In other news, the Japanese Finance Ministry reported that foreigners were net sellers of JPY242.4 billion worth of Japan stocks for the week ending July 12, the third week of net stock selling. In the meantime, foreigners were net purchasers of JPY528.2 billion in Japan bonds and notes for the week, but second straight week of net acquisition.
Later in the day, a final report from the Japanese Cabinet Office showed that the leading index stood at 92.9 in May, up from an initial estimate of 92.6 and 92.8 recorded in April. The coincident index also showed an improvement from its initial estimate. The index recorded a reading of 103.3, an increase from 103 reported earlier. It was also up from 101.7 registered in April.
The International Enterprise Singapore reported that the nation's non-oil domestic exports, or NODX, declined 11% year-on-year in June, at the same pace recorded in May. However, on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX expanded 4.2%, reversing a 9.8% decrease seen in the previous month. On a 3-month moving average year-on-year basis, NODX declined 5.5% in June, following a 3.9% decrease in May.
Official data showed that Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.3% in the June quarter.
According to government data, India's inflation, based on the wholesale price index for week ended July 5 climbed to 11.91% from 11.89% recorded in the previous week.
In central bank news, the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas decided to hike the overnight borrowing rate by 50 basis points to 5.75% and overnight lending rate to 7.75%.
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