Shanghai — Asian shares drifted lower on Monday as signs of softening demand in China rekindled anxiety about the outlook for world growth, but Saudi Arabia’s plans to cut production helped to halt a slide in oil prices. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.07%, trimming earlier losses on a bounce in Chinese shares, but struggling to break into positive territory. Australian shares added 0.13%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index gained 0.11%. A combination of weak factory-gate inflation data in China and low oil prices weighed on global stocks on Friday, dragging MSCI’s gauge of global stocks to its worst day in two weeks. The index was last 0.09% lower. Kevin Lai, chief economist for Asia ex-Japan at Daiwa Capital Markets, said there were genuine concerns from an equity market perspective about China’s economic growth in general and its significant debt burden in particular. “There’s no way the economy can really can get back on a nice recovery path unles...
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