TOKYO, Japan — Asian stocks were mixed on Friday following recent strong gains and after the Dow and the S&P 500 hit new records.
Modest gains on Wall Street came after an upward revision to US GDP for the second quarter. These were also thanks to bumper results from AI chip giant Nvidia.
The upward GDP hike to 3.3 percent from 3 percent mainly reflected improvements in investment and consumer spending.
READ: US stocks reach new peaks as investors digest US GDP
“After the initial release, there were concerns that the domestic (US) economy was slowing quite sharply,” said Richard Flax at Moneyfarm. “But these latest data suggest that the economy is a bit stronger than initially feared.”
Attention is now on Friday’s release of a key US inflation reading and the implications for the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook.
European markets
The Paris stock market extended its recovery. This was after tumbling early in the week on fears that France’s minority government could be toppled. It is struggling to find around 44 billion euros ($51 billion) in savings.
READ: France’s Bayrou warns against snap polls to end political crisis
Among Asian stocks, Japan’s Nikkei and Seoul were down while Shanghai and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng crept higher. This was ahead of results from tech titan Alibaba and electric car giant BYD. Oil prices dipped.
Japanese industrial production fell by 1.6 percent month-on-month, while vehicle output plunged 6.7 percent.
“That fall echoes the big drop in motor vehicle exports last month and suggests that US tariffs are starting to bite,” said Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics.
On Thursday, Japan’s tariff envoy, who was seeking to finalize a trade deal struck in July, abruptly cancelled a visit to Washington.
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