Asian stock markets trade mixed as China consumer inflation increases and India keeps rates unchanged

While Asian stock market indices were trading mixed on Tuesday (9 August), the Shanghai Composite was up 0.39% at 3,016.02 as of 6.12am GMT as China reported an increase in inflation and the Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates unchanged.

China's National Bureau of Statistics, a government agency in-charge of the collection and publication of statistics, said consumer inflation rose 1.8% on-year in July. While the Consumer Price Index was in line with expectations, it indicated there was room for further policy easing in the world's second-largest economy, according to a report.

On 8 August, China reported that exports fell more than expected in July. The exports fell 4.4% in dollar-denominated terms, while imports fell 12.5% year-on-year, amid poor demand both in the domestic and export markets.

"Looking ahead, the launches of new electronic products may provide temporary support to export growth in the near term, but the overall outlook remains cloudy. More importantly, weakening imports, which largely reflected the fragile nature of domestic demand, strengthens the call for more growth-supportive policies," Jing Li, an economist at HSBC, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Indian central bank decided to keep repo rates unchanged at 6.50%. According to a local news report, inflation climbing to a two-year high prevented RBI governor Raghuram Rajan from cutting rates at his final policy review.

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 9 August at 6.27am GMT:

Overnight (8 August), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,529.29, down 0.08%, while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,809.13, up 0.23%.

Among commodities, oil prices were trading lower. While WTI crude oil was trading lower by 0.72% at $42.71 (£32.89; €38.55) a barrel, Brent crude was trading 0.77% lower at $45.04 a barrel as of 6.35am GMT.