Asian stock markets mixed on data from China

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as investors weighed key economic data from China, which missed estimates despite market expectations of a broader recovery. Retail sales in China rose 18.4 percent, industrial production rose 5.6 percent and fixed-asset investment rose 5.2 percent. All of those figures missed economists’ forecasts. Mainland Chinese markets saw the Shanghai Composite Index fall 0.1 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index fall 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climb 0.63 percent. Japanese stocks rose, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.68 percent and the Topix up 0.38 percent, reaching its highest level since August 1990. Chip-related stocks led gains on the Topix, with Tokyo Electron Device up 3 percent and Advantest Corp up more than 4 percent.