Asian stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday as weak crude oil prices weighed on energy shares.
September Brent crude LCOU8, +0.40% sank 4.6% to $71.84 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, the lowest close for a most-active contract since April 17, according to FactSet. August West Texas Intermediate crude CLQ8, +0.15% slumped over 4% to $68.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange—also the lowest finish for most-active contract since June 21.
Appetite for stocks was also dampened by economic data out of China on Monday which showed signs of slowing economy.
“The set of June and second quarter macro data confirms our view that, due to tight financial conditions, real growth is on a slowing trend, which we expect to continue into third quarter,” said Xiaojia Zhi, greater China economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a report.
China’s second-quarter gross domestic product grew 6.7% year-on-year in the second quarter, slowing from 6.8% in the previous quarter. Industrial output grew 6% in June, compared with 6.8% in May.
The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.57% dropped 1% with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. 0386, -1.13% down 0.7% and PetroChina Co. 601857, -2.54% sinking 2.5%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng HSI, -1.32% declined 1% while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -0.61% was off 0.5%. Taiwan’s Taiex Y9999, -0.36% slid 0.2%.
Korea’s Kospi SEU, -0.18% was fractionally higher and Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.44% rose 0.7%.
