Asia Stocks Plunge as China Reports a Better-Than-Expected 2Q GDP at 3.2%

Stocks in Asia traded lower in the morning session on Thursday, July 16, 2020, as investors digested the report of 3.2% expansion in Chinese GDP in 2Q20.

 

As of 9:30 local time in Thailand (GMT+7), Nikkei dropped 0.34%, SSEC fell 0.52%, HSI plunged 0.54%, ASX200 dipped 0.06% and Kospi shedded 0.12%.

Overnight, Dow Jones closed at 26,870.10 points, increased 227.51 points or 0.85%. S&P 500 rose 0.91% and Nasdaq gained 0.59%.

Oil prices in the morning session of Asian trading hours were lower after OPEC and its allies decided to move forward with their initial plan to ease their reduction as oil demand recovers. The group would ease their production cut from 9.7 million barrels per day to 7.7 million barrels per day, starting August till the end of 2020.

WTI Futures dropped 0.53% to $40.98/bbl and Brent Futures fell 0.39% to $43.62/bbl.

 

On Thursday morning, Chinese 2Q20 GDP came in positive at 3.2% YoY, beating the forecast of 2.4% expansion. The GDP also posted a 11.5% increase QoQ, beating the forecast of 9.6% expansion.

Meanwhile, Chinese retail sales in June fell 1.8% YoY, contrasted to the expectation of a 0.3% growth from a Reuters poll.