Asian Stocks Fall As China Data Disappoints

Most Asian markets fell Friday due to investor disappointment over China's worse-than-expected trade balance for July, increasing concerns about the faltering economic condition.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.61 percent or 54.49 points to 8924.11. Among major losers were Olympus Corp (3.14 percent), Bridgestone Corp (2.33 percent) and Taisei Corp (2.23 percent).

The Chinese Shanghai Composite marginally fell 0.06 percent or 1.26 points to 2172.84. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.75 percent or 151.23 points to 20118.24. Among major losers were Sands China Ltd (2.16 percent) and Sino Land Co Ltd (1.59 percent).

South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index marginally dropped 0.02 percent or 0.47 points to 1940.12. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd climbed 0.30 percent and those of Hyundai Motor Co advanced 1.02 percent.

India's BSE Sensex was down 0.10 percent or 17.92 points to 17542.92. Major losers were GMR Infrastructure Ltd (3.14 percent), Tata Motors Ltd (2.65 percent) and Canara Bank (1.51 percent).

China reported a trade surplus of $25.1 billion in July amid slower-than-expected growth in exports and imports, raising the concern that the world's second-largest economy isn't doing enough to stimulate economy and avert a slowdown.

Customs data released Friday show that imports rose 4.7 percent in July compared to the same month last year, down from 6.3 percent in June. Meanwhile, exports advanced just 1 percent in July compared to the same month in the last year, down from 11.3 percent in June.

Investors worry that the weak domestic demand and a downturn in the property sector have hurt China's economic growth. The continuing debt crisis in Europe and the tentative U.S. recovery too have hurt the demand for exports.

China's central bank put out statements in the past week emphasizing that supporting economic growth is their central concern. So far though, its efforts have only been able to avoid a hard landing of the economy rather than fuel a rebound.