Ignoring the upbeat capital expenditure data from Japanese firms, investors chilled on the first trading day of the week, causing the Nikkei to break its 11-day winning streak. Jack Ma’s magic touch turned Reorient Group into a golden egg as its shares surged in Hong Kong this morning after the Chinese billionaire’s fund bought a 56% stake in the investment bank.
Reorient Group shares surge. The Hong Kong-based investment bank Reorient saw its stock surge as much as 178%, its highest intraday rise in eight years, as investors cheered the HK$2.68 billion ($346 million) investment by the Jack Ma-backed private equity fund Jade Passion. With the purchase, Jade will have a 56% stake in Reorient. Bloomberg
China factory output improves a bit, services sector cools and exports orders approach two-year low. The official PMI data for May released by the Chinese government showed that factory output in May rose to 50.2 from 50.1 in April. Another China PMI figure, this time from HSBC, showed that the final May factory output still contracted at 49.2, though it was still better than April’s 49.1 reading. The services sector cooled down a bit, with the non-manufacturing PMI for May slipping slightly lower to 53.2 in May from 53.4 in April, according to official data. CNBC/Reuters
Japan’s capital expenditure flies in the first quarter. Corporate spending on plant and equipment, among others, rose 7.3% in the first quarter from a year ago, its fastest pace in a year, government data showed. The data adds optimism that Asia’s second-largest economy expanded at a faster clip in the first three months than what initial figures have shown. The government will release revised GDP figures for the first quarter on June 8. Reuters
Japan shares fall, ending winning steak. At the mid-morning break, the Nikkei slipped 0.3% as a weak finish on Wall Street on Friday kept investors from pushing the index to its 12-day straight days of gains. Hong Kong and Shanghai were also up, with the Hang Seng Index trading 0.5% higher while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.9%. Reuters/MarketWatch
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