Japanese Shares Ignore Bad Data

Japanese shares ended higher on Tuesday despite negative retail sales data and a cut to the country’s credit rating.

The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.4% to 20,058.95 as investors shrugged off news that retail sales fell at the fastest pace in 17 years in March.

Retail sales for the world’s third largest economy fell 9.7% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, US ratings agency Fitch downgraded Japan’s credit rating to A, five notches below the top rating.

Fitch said the government had failed to offset the impact of a delay in a sales tax hike with measures to address the deficit.

Japan’s debt is the biggest among developed nations and more than twice the size of its economy.
In China, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended flat at 28,442.75, while the Shanghai Composite fell 1.1% to 4,476.21 – leading the region’s losses.

Shares of oil giants PetroChina and Sinopec fell around 5% after they dismissed speculation that they would merge.

via BBC