Asian stocks amid countervailing forces – Meituan ‘jumps’ more than 4.5%

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed macroeconomic figures as well as corporate news.

In particular, the Japan reported a larger-than-expected increase in exports for July compared to the same month last year. Its 19 percent export growth beat the 18.2 percent analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected, thanks to a strong recovery in auto exports. In Singapore, however, exports grew at a slower pace in July due to modest levels where non-electronics shipments moved.

At New Zealand the central bank moved, as expected, to raising its key interest rate by 50 basis points and indicated that it would continue to tighten its monetary policy, at least to the 4% level. The bank’s moves put the Oceanian country at the forefront of the global tide of monetary policy tightening.

In this climate, in mainland China the Shanghai Composite adds 0.28% and Shenzhen 0.64%.

In the Hong Kong the Hang Seng is up 0.84%, with Meituan’s stock standing out with a “jump” of more than 4.5%, recovering and erasing much of yesterday’s losses of around 9%. The Chinese food delivery giant is strengthening in the wake of news that Tencent plans to sell most of its stake in the company, amounting to 24 billion dollars. Tencent’s Q2 results are expected today.

In Japanthe Nikkei 225 adds 1.06%, while the Topix moves at similar rates to 1.1%.

At South Korea, the Kospi gave up its intra-session gains and turned into negative territory, with losses at -0.8% mainly due to profit bookings by large investors. The shares of Hyundai, Kia and Kanwha Aerospace move at levels of -2%.

Finally, the S&P/ASX 200 at Australia moves down by 0.2%.