Asian markets: Shanghai Composite slips amid weak export data

While Asian stock market indices traded mixed on 8 June, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.14% at 2,931.98 as of 6.03am GMT. This was amid weak Chinese export data released by the General Administration of Customs, a ministry-level administrative agency within the government of the People's Republic of China.

Exports in the world's second largest economy declined in May. This marked the second consecutive month of declines. While it declined 4.1% on an on-year basis in May, it slid 1.8% in April, according to the government agency.

A few economists said these numbers showed there was a weak appetite from US and European countries. They added that this reflected a declining global demand for technology products.

Zhang Fan, an economist with the RHB Research Institute, opined, "For exports, I'm very cautious, not only for this month but in the medium term. For the next one or two quarters, I don't think we'll see much recovery in global demand."

Apart from China and Hong Kong, stock markets across the rest of Asia were primarily in the green. This was because of the recent comments from US Federal Reserve Chair, Janet Yellen, who had hinted that the American central bank would not increase interest rates at its June 14-15 policy meeting.

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 8 June at 6.20am GMT:

Overnight (7 June), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,938.28, up 0.10%, while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,284.53, up 0.18%.

Among commodities, oil prices saw an uptick after trade group American Petroleum Institute (API), released a report on 7 June, which revealed that US crude inventory fell short by 3.6 million barrels for the week ended 3 June. This was more than the expected 2.7 million barrels, hence giving a boost to oil prices. On 8 June, WTI crude oil was trading 0.20% higher at $50.46 (£34.69, €44.40) a barrel, while Brent crude was trading 0.10% higher at $51.49 a barrel at 6.29am GMT.