Weak Chinese data drags down Shanghai stocks

Chinese data for October came in weaker than expected on Thursday, dragging down the mainland index, but Hong Kong shares have remained strong.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.4% to 2,486, after China reported a muted rise in industrial output and retail sales. Output rose 7.7% year on year, undershooting economists' expectations of an 8% rise, while retail sales were up 11.5% instead of a predicted 11.6% increase. At the same time, fixed asset investment fell to 15.9% from 16.1% the previous month. The weaker data supports the concerns of economists China may be facing a significant slowdown from its multi-year strong GDP growth. However, the offshore Hong Kong market managed to shrug off the weak data, as investors continu...