Asia close: Stocks rise on better-than-expected Chinese data

(Sharecast News) - Stock market indices in the Far East were mostly higher at the start of the week benefitting from a spate of largely better-than-expected data out in China.

Investor sentiment was likely also buttressed by news that presidents of the US and Russia were expected to speak by phone on Tuesday.

South Korea's Kospi did especially well, running up by 1.73% to 2,610.69.

Tokyo's Nikkei-225 added 0.93% to 37,396.52, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index edged up 0.19% to 3,426.13 and Taiwan's TAIEX added 0.69% to 22,118.63.

The annual rate of increase in Chinese industrial production growth in China ebbed to 5.9% for January and February combined (consensus: 5.3%).

Fixed asset investment was up by 4.1% year-on-year over the first two months of the year (consensus: 3.6%).

Retail sales growth meanwhile picked up to 4.0%, from the 3.7% clip recorded in December, as expected.

On the flip-side, existing and new home prices in China both fell month-on-month in February, suggesting that the "long-awaited bottoming our of prices may take at least another month," analysts at ING said.

Also at the weekend, Chinese policymakers unveiled a "special action plan" to bolster consumption.

All told, economists at ING said: "significant uncertainties remain, but we feel that upside and downside risks are roughly evenly balanced from the new forecast at this juncture.

"China rarely fails to achieve its growth target, and we expect that policy support will continue to roll out to help offset the tariff impact on growth this year."

Zichun Huang at Capital Economics was less positive.

"But this recovery may prove short-lived due to the economy's underlying structural challenges," he said.

"In particular, after a few months of recovery, home sales started to fall again at the start of the year. And the correction in property construction will continue for years, pulling down economic growth over the medium-term."