Asia: Stocks down as Chinese PMI data misses forecasts

Most stocks in Asia remained in the red on Wednesday following disappointing Chinese data and losses on Wall Street.

The Shanghai composite index fell 1.62% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.41%. The Chinese services purchasing managers' index released overnight rose to a four-month high of 52.9, up from 52.3 in March but slightly below expectations of 53.1 points.

Michael van Dulken from Accendo Markets said the day before that "concerns that recent Chinese market gains on monetary stimulus hopes may have been excessive" are also dragging stocks down.

Australia's ASX lost 2.3% due to a fall in retail sales to 0.3% in March from 0.7% the month before. However, home sales growth was up 4.4% from 1.1% one month earlier.

Following the Reserve bank of Australia's interest rate cut on Tuesday, there was speculation that the central bank may put a stop to its easing cycle.

The Asian market was also hurt by lower stocks in the US on Tuesday night, as investors grappled with disappointing trade data.
The Japanese markets were closed on Wednesday for the Constitution Day.

In corporate news, Australia's mining group BHP Billiton closed down 1.18% after earlier gains driven by an increase in gold and base metals prices. Rio Tinto also finished 0.68% down.

Elsewhere, China Construction Bank fell 0.76% and China State Construction lost 2.87%.