Invesing.com- Asian equities fell in morning trade on Monday as investors awaited a set of China data scheduled to be released later in the day.
China is set to release its second-quarter GDP at 10PM ET (02:00 GMT). Fixed asset investment, industrial production and retail sales are also due.
The country is expected to report its Q2 GDP growth slowed to 6.7% from 6.8% in the previous quarter, as trade tensions between China and the U.S. weighed on sentiment.
"I think it's a little bit tricky at this moment. On the one hand, China commits to financial deleveraging. On the other hand, China sees growth moderation and growth slowdown is a risk for the economy as well," said Hao Zhou, senior emerging market economist for Asia at Commerzbank.
In other news, U.S. President Donald Trump played down expectations for the upcoming talks with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin.
“No matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough,” Trump said in a series of tweets.
The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 0.5% and 0.3% respectively by 9:38PM ET (01:38 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2%.
ZTE Corp (HK:0763) rose as much as 9% in Hong Kong after the U.S. lifted a ban on American companies selling parts to the China-based telecommunications equipment manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Chinese stock exchanges announced that the connect scheme linking Hong Kong and mainland’s exchanges would not extend to firms with weighted voting rights structure, meaning that Chinese investors would be barred from buying shares in certain companies including Xiaomi.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.3% lower, and South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.1%. Markets in Japan are closed for a holiday on Monday.