Asian stocks were off to a bleak start on Thursday, as economic data from Japan weighed heavily on investors.
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 2.5 percent at 18,299.62, after surging nearly 8 percent on Wednesday morning.
Core machinery orders, Japan’s most important gauge of capital expenditure, fell for the second month in a row in July, down 3.6 percent. This is a further indication that Japan’s economy may not recover as quickly as expected after a disappointing second quarter.
In China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite was down 1.1% to 3,206.69, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 2.2% to 21,639.29 points.
Figures released on Thursday showed China’s consumer price index (CPI) unexpectedly rose to 2% in August from a year ago marking a one-year high.
However the rise was mainly due to higher pork prices, rather than economic growth; pork is a big contributor to consumer prices in China and rose from 16.7 percent last year to 19.6 percent in August.
