Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower as China reports factory output slowed

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia on Monday after China reported its factory output slowed in May, with the property market still deep in the doldrums.

U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices fell.

Shares fell 1.9% in Tokyo to 38,070.40 and in Seoul, the Kospi declined 0.5% to 2,744.63. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.2% to 7,712.90.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% to 17,960.09, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.6% to 3,015.95.

Factory output fell 5.6% in China in May, the government reported, below analysts’ forecasts and slowing from 6.7% the month before. Retail sales rose just 4.1% in the first five months of the year.

Overshadowing those lackluster numbers, property investments fell 10% in May from a year earlier, while home prices in major cities fell 3.2%.

Property sales plunged 30.5% year-on-year, in further evidence that a raft of measures to try to turn around a slump in the property sector have yet to take hold.

Most markets in Southeast Asia were closed for holidays, while Thailand’s SET lost 1.2%.

On Friday, U.S. stocks hung around their record levels, with the S&P 500 down less than 0.1%, to 5,431.60, the first time last week that it did not set an all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1%, to 38,589.16, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.1% to its record set a day before on the back of gains for technology stocks, closing at 17,688.88.

In Europe, stocks sank following elections that have raised uncertainty over the region’s future.

Wins by far-right parties have raised pressure on France’s president in particular, and investors worry it could weaken the European Union, stall fiscal plans and ultimately hurt France’s ability to pay its debt. Recent elections have also shaken markets in Mexico, India and elsewhere.

France’s CAC 40 fell 2.7% to bring its loss for the week to 6.2%, its worst in more than two years. Germany’s DAX lost 1.4%.

U.S. stocks have set records as hopes rise that inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Big technology stocks, meanwhile, continue to race ahead almost regardless of what the economy and interest rates are doing.

Adobe jumped 14.5% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Broadcom rose 3.3% for a second straight day of gains after reporting better profit than expected and a 10-for-one stock split to make its price more affordable. Nvidia gained 1.8% as the poster child of the rush into artificial-intelligence technology sees its total market value climb even higher above $3 trillion.

A preliminary report from the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers failed to improve this month, against economists’ expectations.

High mortgage rates have hurt the housing market, as the Federal Reserve has kept its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades. The central bank is intentionally slowing the economy through high rates in hopes of starving high inflation of its fuel.

In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 30 cents to $77.75 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 30 cents to $82.32 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 157.52 Japanese yen from 157.39 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0704 from $1.0705.