Asian stocks mixed, China bolstered

Asian stocks mixed, China bolstered

HONG KONG — Asian shares were mixed Monday with China buoyed by recent data indicating recovery, but other markets were unsettled by drops on Wall Street and the bailout of a crisis-hit Portuguese bank.

Traders said the intervention by Portugal's central bank to inject 4.4 billion euros (US$5.9 billion) into the crisis-hit Banco Espirito Santo late Sunday had an impact on markets, as did the Dow's substantial sell-off last week.

Tokyo's Nikkei fell 0.31% or 48.61 points, closing at 15,474.50, Sydney dipped 15.5 points, or 0.28%, to finish at 5,540.9, and Seoul rose 0.35%, or 7.32 points, to end at 2,080.42.

Hong Kong rose 0.28% or 67.65 points to close at 24,600.08, while Shanghai jumped 1.74%, or 38.03 points, finishing at 2,223.33.

Kuala Lumpur rose 0.67%, or 12.46 points, to 1,875.80, Manila climbed 1.51, or 104.14 points, to 6,998.37, Singapore fell 0.78%, or 26.02 points, to close at 3,318.40, and Taipei rose 0.69%, or 63.68 points, to 9,330.19.

"European risk is having an impact on the broader market," Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager of research at Chibagin Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires.

In China, heavyweight blue-chip stocks led the gains, after an official survey Friday showed manufacturing rose at its fastest rate for more than two years in July.

AJ Securities analyst Hou Yingmin told Dow Jones Newswires this was due to a "combination of an economic recovery, ample liquidity and market friendly policies, including Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect programme."

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.42% despite a solid US jobs report and generally good corporate earnings.

Investors took a cautious stance after Thursday's rout, which sent the blue-chip index tumbling more than 300 points, giving up all its gains for 2014.

Joshua Mahony, research analyst at Alpari (UK) told Dow Jones Newswires, traders were seeking to "determine whether this is just an anomaly... or a sign of something more significant".

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