World stocks edge higher on upbeat Chinese data
China’s GDP grows 6.4% and its industrial output surged in March, but European shares are flat; Juventus FC’s shares plummet after losing to Ajax
London/Sydney — World stocks edged higher after a raft of Chinese data beat expectations on Wednesday, and though benchmark bond yields and the Aussie dollar did the same, Europe struggled to join in. In early European trades, the regional Euro Stoxx 600 and German DAX 30 were mostly unchanged while London’s FTSE was a shade weaker as near 5% drop in iron ore prices hit its heavyweight miners. Moves in Asian share markets had been mostly modest too, in part because they had already rallied hard since the start of the year. Japan’s Nikkei closed up 0.25% after hitting a five-month peak while the Shanghai Composite made 0.3% to score its highest close since March 21 2018 after jumping 2.4% on Tuesday. Investors have been counting on better news from China and were not disappointed with first-quarter economic growth pipping forecasts at 6.4%. Importantly, industrial output surged 8.5% in March from a year earlier, the fastest pace since July 2014 and well above forecasts of a 5.9% incr...
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