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Asian Markets Fall; Analysts Downgrade South Korea GDP Forecasts

Investing.com

Investing.com - Asian markets fell in morning trade on Friday. South Korea’s KOSPI was under pressure after analysts from several investment banks downgraded the country’s GDP forecasts.

China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component both fell 0.7% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.1%.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech at the Friday opening ceremony of China’s Belt and Road forum that China would increase intellectual property protection and “stop arbitrary technology transfer.”

“We will more effectively engage in international macroeconomic policy coordination,” Xi said, according to an official English translation of his Mandarin Chinese remarks. “A globalized economy calls for global governance. China will strengthen macro policy coordination with major economies to generate a positive spillover.”

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Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.8%. The country’s Industrial output in the January-March period tumbled 2.6%, the biggest decline since April-June 2014, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Friday.

Japan’s financial markets are set to begin a 10-day holiday from next week.

Shares of Nintendo Co Ltd (T:7974) slumped 3% after the company issued guidance that showed both hardware and software sales were growing at a low pace.

Nintendo said it would sell 18 million Switch video game console units globally in the financial year through March.

That was down from a forecast of 20 million unit sales back in January.

South Korea’s KOSPI declined by 0.5%. CNBC reported that three analysts from different investment banks have downgraded their 2019 growth forecasts for South Korea. The downgrade came after data showed the country’s first-quarter GDP unexpectedly shrank.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, more than half of the large-cap KOSPI index firms have reported first-quarter earnings that have missed expectations.

Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.1%.

“Asian markets may tread water today, awaiting for further cues from US’ 1Q GDP print tonight,” analysts at OCBC Treasury Research wrote in a morning note that was cited by CNBC.

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