Asian indexes mixed in choppy session

Asian stocks were mixed today (September 8th) after new data highlighted a fall in China's imports, which fuelled worries about the health of the world's second largest economy.

While the country's exports fell less than expected in August, imports slid beyond forecasts.

"I'm not optimistic about the prospect of exports and it's unlikely China can achieve the export target this year," Nie Wen, analyst at Hwabao Trust in Shanghai, told Reuters. "There will be at least three more reserve requirement rate cuts this year to counteract capital outflows."

The Shanghai Composite index tumbled but sharply reversed its course in the final minutes of trading following the approval of railway projects worth nearly 70 billion yuan (£7.1 billion).

Meanwhile, it emerged today that Japan's revised gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter shrank an annualised 1.2 per cent, beating an initial estimate of a 1.6 per cent contraction.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index tumbled 2.4 per cent to 17,427.08, China's Shanghai Composite Index soared 2.9 per cent to 3,170.57 and South Korea's Kospi slid 0.2 per cent to 1,878.68. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.4 per cent to 21,259.04 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.7 per cent to 5,115.25.

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