2014.08.1301:53:30UTC+00Asian stocks swing ahead of Chinese data, Ukraine concern

Asian stocks were mixed in the opening trade as the market anticipated the release of Chinese industrial output and retail sales report while keeping an eye on the situation in Ukraine.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1% to 146.74, 12:21pm, Tokyo time. In the early morning trade, the index fell by as much as 0.2%. Regional gauges have mixed reactions with China declining the most among the Asian indexes. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and South Korea’s KOSPI Index are up by 0.27% or 40.23 pips to 15,201.54 and 0.60% or 12.30 pips to 2,053.77 respectively. China’s Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined by as much as 0.62% or 12.70 pips to 2054.17 and 0.24% or 58.48 pips to 24,630.93 respectively. Capping off the major Asian indices are Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declining by 0.24% or 13.52 pips to 5,516.80 and CNBC 100 ASIA IDX advancing by 0.15% or 11.42 pips to 7,423.30.

Japan’s Sony rose by 2% following reports that the Playstation 4 unit sales has surpassed the 10 million mark to overcome the Xbox of rival, Microsoft. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Eclat Textile Co. plunged by 6.9% after reporting a worse-than-expected quarterly earnings. Australia’s CSL Ltd. gained 3.1% after the world’s second largest blood-derived therapies maker posted a positive profit report with an announcement that it will try the purchase back shares.

Vice president of wealth management at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., Vasu Menon, commented to Bloomberg that credit is a concern as reformations to the economy need to be made by the government for the purpose of economic growth through domestic consumption. Menon adds that it is not surprising that there be concerns with the credit number but Menon believes that the market will “lose the sight of the longer-term picture.”