Asian shares fall as investors mull Chinese growth data

Shares retreated in Asia on Thursday as investors mulled figures showing China's economy returned to growth in the last quarter.

The Shanghai Composite index led Thursday’s declines, dropping 2.9% to 3,262.41. Benchmarks also fell in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney.

News that China’s economy grew 3.2% in annual terms in April-June, after a 6.8% contraction in the previous quarter, failed to keep an overnight rally going.

The expansion came as anti-virus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened. But it still was the weakest positive figure since China started reporting quarterly growth in the early 1990s.

Weak retail sales showed that boosting factory output is the easy part, said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp.

“No matter how much stimulus and fiscal sugar you try to entice consumers with, they will not leave their apartment and go on a spending spree until they feel confident the landscape is virus-free,” he said in a report.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 22,770.36, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.3% to 25,145.89. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.7% to 2,187.49.

India's Sensex was the outlier, gaining 0.8% to 36,324.79. Shares fell in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged less than 0.1% lower, to 6,051.90, as authorities reported that Victoria state had confirmed a record 317 new coronavirus cases in a day.

The Victoria government responded be reducing numbers of non-urgent surgeries allowed in hospitals to increase beds available for COVID-19 patients, Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said.

Shares advanced worldwide on Wednesday after researchers announced that a vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna had revved up people’s immune systems in early testing, as hoped.

The S&P 500...