Asian shares advance despite weaker factory data, outbreaks

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Wednesday despite new data showing factory activity slowed this month as virus outbreaks disrupted shipping at some Chinese ports.

Markets advanced in Shanghai, Sydney and Seoul but slipped in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Japan, South Korea, and China all released data that “erred on the side of slightly disappointing," Jeffrey Halley of OANDA said in a commentary, adding that “it looks like softening demand from key export markets, exacerbated by chip shortages and logistic logjams, are muting orders across many sectors."

Japan’s industrial output fell 5.9% in June from the month before while South Korean production fell 0.7%.

A key measure of Chinese factory activity, the purchasing managers index, remained just barely in a state of expansion.

Pandemic precautions due to outbreaks of coronavirus at some ports in southern China have been disrupting shipping, analysts say.

Some signs of weakness can reassure investors worried that central banks and governments might withdraw the lavish support for markets that has powered them to record highs after a slump early in the pandemic.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% lower to 28,791.53. In Seoul, the Kospi gained 0.4% to 3,300.33 and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.3% to 3,584.06. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.4% to 7,330.50.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.4% to 28,879.87. Shares rose in India and and Taiwan.

The biggest data release this week will be Friday’s U.S. jobs report for June. Economists expect it to show American employers created 675,000 more jobs than they cut, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.7%.

Job growth has been choppy recently, with gains falling disappointingly short of economists’ expectations in recent months. That’s key because...