Asian Stocks Mixed, Europe Rises As Investors Shrug Off Soft Chinese Data

China shares initially gained after the release, and the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.1% lower, tracking other Asian shares lower.

The NBS also said that China’s industrial production added just 5.7 percent on year in September – missing forecasts for 6.0 percent and down from 6.1 percent in August. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 81.74 points or 0.35 percent to trade at 22,985.63.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.2% at 5,256.60 points.

The AUD rallied today, on the better than expected Chinese GDP data that showed no signs of a slowdown, as much as a few forecasters had feared in the 3Q.

Early in European trade, the dollar’s index against a basket of currencies was up 0.1 percent at 94.616, rebounding from a seven-week low of 93.806 hit on Thursday.

“Some investors were caught on the wrong side with the Chinese data and there is a few broad short covering but the in-line data means that we are unlikely to get any immediate stimulus being announced so markets are likely to trade sideways”, said a trader at a USA bank in Hong Kong.

Earlier this year, the government set its growth target for 2015 at “around 7%”, the lowest in 11 years.

EARNINGS: Investors were also focused on Morgan Stanley’s third quarter earnings, which dropped 42 percent, more than analysts had forecast, as the bank’s bond trading business weakened. Still, the results slightly outpaced expectations of 6.8%, according to economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, ratcheting down a few of the pessimism that had unsettled global markets over the summer.

Panasonic (6752.T-JP) tanked 1.5 percent, while carmakers such as Nissan (7201.T-JP), Suzuki Motor (7269.T-JP) and Honda (7267.T-JP) slumped between 1 and 1.9 percent.

Shares of Westpac (WBK) are up more than 3 percent as it resumed trading after being in a trading halt last week due to a capital raising. Singapore’s Straits Times lost 10.37 points or 0.34 percent to trade at 3,020.24.

Macau casinos Galaxy Entertainment and Sands China both retreated, falling 4.8 per cent to HK$26.75 and 6.4 per cent to HK$ 28.60 respectively, on profit taking following sharp gains late last week.

Among the major exporters, Sony (SNE) is adding 0.3 percent, while Toshiba is declining more than 2 percent and Canon is down nearly 1 percent.

Spot gold was last at $1,173.8-1,174.1 per ounce, down $2.8 from Friday’s close.

United States stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 notching a third consecutive week of gains, as robust consumer sentiment data helped offset disappointing industrial production data and mixed quarterly earnings from industrial giants General Electric and Honeywell.