CBO: Asian shares edge higher after fears China might tighten curbs to cool growth ease
BEIJING (AP) - Asian stocks rose Monday after weaker Chinese manufacturing data quelled fears Beijing might tighten controls to prevent overheating and upbeat Japanese earnings boosted trading sentiment.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average was up 1.4 percent at 9673.56 after ending lower in its last two sessions as concerns about the stronger yen offset a mostly positive earnings season. A strong yen can hurt profits from exports.
China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8 percent to 2658.74 after a survey by an industry group showed manufacturing growth slowed in July for a third month. That helped to quell fears Beijing might try to prevent overheating by tightening curbs imposed earlier to cool a real estate and lending boom.
"There is no danger of overheating, which means the government will not have to tighten the screws," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong.
Regional markets gained on the news. China is a major buyer of commodities and industrial components from other Asian economies, and more measures to cool growth would have hurt demand elsewhere.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 1.3 percent to 21,305.09 while Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.8 percent to 7,904.45. Singapore was up 0.8 percent at 3,013.12 and South Korea's Kospi Index climbed 1.2 percent to 1,780.74.
In Australia, a major commodities exporter to China, the S&P/ASX200 gained 1 percent to 4,538.50.
"China is a gorilla in the economic sense," said Lun. "If China does well, the region does well."
In Tokyo, sentiment improved after Sony, Honda and Panasonic reported strong quarterly profits, even as government data showed industrial production and consumer prices fell.
India's Sensex was up 0.8 percent at 18,011.89.
On Friday in New York, the U.S. market ended its best month in a year, as a series of strong earnings reports by major companies offset government indicators that show the country's economic recovery may be slowing.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both had their best months since July 2009 and their first winning months since this past April.
