Asian stock markets rise despite North Korean missile launch

Most stock markets across Asia were in positive territory on 15 May, despite North Korea launching a ballistic missile over the weekend.

The missile, which reached an altitude of more than 2,000km (1,200 miles), travelled a distance of around 700km before falling in the Sea of Japan.

Investors also shrugged off a global cyber-attack which affected some 200,000 computers in 150 countries, with the UK's National Health Service being one of the worst-affected bodies.

"Initial reports suggest it was caught relatively early and limited to older computers," James Woods, global investment analyst at Rivkin, told Reuters.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 benchmark index retreated 0.1% to 19,857.44 points in the afternoon session.

Troubled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba missed the Tokyo Stock Exchange's deadline to publish its annual results, saying auditors were still going through its accounts.

It warned that it is likely to post a loss of ¥950bn yen (£6.5bn‎) for the 2016-17 year.

Brent Crude prices were up 1.5% at $51.60 per barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia signalled that they would cut crude production until March 2018.

Rest of Asia

Mainland China's Shanghai Composite benchmark advanced 0.3% to 3,091.61 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 0.6% at 25,302.86.

"North Korea's latest missile test may have set markets on a weak footing at the start of the week," said Jingyi Pan, market analyst at trading firm IG in Singapore.

"Early movers in the region were mostly seen in red this morning, taking after the subdued US markets last week and likely shrouded by concerns with regards to the geopolitical developments."

Official figures showed China's industrial output rose 6.5% from a year earlier in April, falling short of analyst expectations for an increase of 7.1%.

Fixed-asset investment expanded 8.9% in the January to April period, also missing expectations for a 9.1% increase, while retail sales rose 10.7% in April.

In South Korea, the Kospi benchmark index climbed 0.3% to 2,291.86 points.

Elsewhere, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was flat at 5,838.40.