SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Asian shares were lower on Monday after data from China showed the world’s second-largest economy slowed slightly in the second quarter, and as investors remain cautious over the impact of the heated Sino-U.S. trade war.
Official data released Monday showed China’s economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018, in line with market expectations, and cooling a bit from the 6.8 percent growth registered in each of the previous three quarters.
More worryingly perhaps, the data also showed slower-than-expected growth in China’s industrial output.
Taken together, the data point to an economy continuing to slow under the influence of a multi-year crackdown on excessive financial risk, even as trade war headwinds gather.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.4 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC lost 0.5 percent, and the blue-chip CSI300 index .SSEC was 0.4 percent lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI was off 0.3 percent.
Australian shares were down 0.4 percent, and Seoul's Kospi .KS11 lost less than 0.1 percent.
Japan’s markets are closed for a holiday.
The soft China data undermined a boost to sentiment from Friday’s gains on Wall Street, which were underpinned by strong profits from industrial and energy firms and helped offset investor concerns over the U.S.-China trade war.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.38 percent to 25,019.41 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.03 percent, to 7,825.98. The S&P 500 .SPX touched a five month high
