Asia Stocks Rise With Oil Price, Tokyo Flat

HONG KONG, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Augst,2016) - Tokyo stocks were flat Monday after figures showed Japan's economy stalled in the second quarter, but some other Asian markets climbed along with a rise in the oil price.

Shanghai jumped more than one percent while Sydney and Hong Kong were also up by mid-morning, even after weak economic data out of the eurozone and US on Friday left European and Wall Street stocks under pressure and gave Asia a weak lead.

In Japan, data showed that growth in the world's third largest economy was flat at 0.0 percent quarter-on-quarter, missing economists' predictions for a 0.2 percent expansion in the April-June period as weak exports and a fall in business spending held back activity.

On an annualised basis, the economy expanded by a slight 0.2 percent, well off expectations for 0.7 percent growth. "Today's data are quite disappointing," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking. "The situation is becoming tougher and tougher.

There is the rally in the Yen and worries about Japan's prospects in overseas markets. And so companies are becoming more pessimistic about making investments." Tokyo edged up just 0.79 points percent by the break. However, embattled electronics maker Sharp surged 15 percent on news the giant has completed a deal to be acquired by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, known as Foxconn.