Asian stocks up on China stimulus hopes

Asian shares traded higher today (August 10th) on hopes for new stimulus measures after Chinese data highlighted a deepening slowdown in the country's demand at home and abroad.

New figures unveiled another monthly decline in Chinese exports – its biggest fall in four months. Exports contracted by 8.3 per cent over a year earlier and imports were off by 8.1 per cent. For the year to date, exports are off 14.6 per cent and imports down by 0.8 per cent.

"The markets are beginning to price in structurally lower growth in China and an end to the so-called commodity super-cycle," Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, told Reuters.

China's slowdown comes as expectations that the US Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates this year have gained momentum.

The Shanghai Composite Index soared five per cent to 3,928.42, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 edged up 0.4 per cent at 20,808.69 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.1 per cent at 24,521.12. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.4 per cent 2,003.17, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 per cent to 5,509.20.

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