Asia-Pacific markets rise after China’s second-quarter growth beats estimates

Tech stocks in Hong Kong rose Tuesday for the third consecutive session, with shares of companies that import Nvidia chips surging after the artificial intelligence darling announced its intent to resume sales of its H20 graphic processing units to China.

The Hang Seng Tech index surged 2.14% in its last 30 minutes of trade. The top three performers on the tech-heavy index were , which gained 6.83%,  which added 6.41% and  which rose 5.53%.

The Hang Seng Tech Index ETF shows the day’s moves:

Hang Seng Tech ETF

Straits Times Index

The index was up 0.38% at 4,124.71 as of 2.51 p.m. local time (2.50 a.m. ET), with gains led by the industrials, consumer non-cyclicals and utilities sectors.

The best performing stocks were Jardine Matheson Holdings which rose 3.65%, SATS which advanced 3.53% and Seatrium Limited which added 2.83%.

— Amala Balakrishner

China’s property sector remains a “key challenge” and is resulting in a “persistent deflation problem,” Chetan Ahya, chief Asia economist at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Tuesday.

He added that China’s GDP growth is expected to slow further in the second half of 2025, dragged by a “global trade slowdown” following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

China may experience a “small appreciation” in its renminbi vis-a-vis its regional counterparts as China faces both deflation and “higher tariffs than other trade partners, ” Ahya said.

Countries dealing with deflation, such as Japan, have used currency depreciation as a way to increase inflation and stimulate the economy.

Further renminbi appreciation, however, will “aggravate the margin pressure on the exporters”, when there is existing “excess capacity in that environment,” Ahya concluded.

— Nicole Teo

A gauge of Chinese property shares slumped Tuesday, after government data showed that the slump in real estate investments deepened in June, falling 11.2% in the first half of 2025, compared to a 10.7% drop in the first five months of the year.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index — which captures the performance of Chinese real estate players listed in Hong Kong — was down 1.06% as at 1.10 p.m. local time (1.10 a.m. ET).

Losses were led by China Vanke, which declined 3.38%, Cifi Holdings Group, which dropped by 3.33% and Longfor Group Holdings, which lost 3.26%.

Chinese property stocks fall as real estate investments show no sign of recovery

Declines in China Vanke’s shares was also driven in large part by its expectations of a wider net loss of up to 12 billion yuan ($1.67 billion) in the first six months of the year, compared to a loss of 9.85 billion yuan the year before. It attributed the forecast to a sharp drop in project settlements, low profit margins and extra provisions.

The state-backed property developer’s woes mirror the challenges in China’s real estate sector.

“The real estate market is still in a process of bottoming,” Laiyun Sheng, deputy commissioner at China’s National Bureau of Statistics, said at a press briefing following the data release, calling for “stronger support” to stabilize the sector.

— Amala Balakrishner

Japan’s 30-year government bond yield rose 14.5 basis points to hit a record high of 3.191% Tuesday ahead of the country’s upper house elections on July 20.

Yields on 10-year JGBs were up nearly 2 basis points to 1.594%, after reaching its highest level since 2008 earlier in the session.

Similarly, yields on 20-year JGBs rose to its highest level since 1999 earlier in the session. They were last seen up nearly 1 basis point to 2.634%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Indian stocks rose in early trade Tuesday.

The 50-stock benchmark Nifty 50 moved up 0.17% while the Sensex index added 0.21% as of 9.40 a.m. Indian Standard time.

Nifty 50 Index

Spot gold continued to rise Tuesday, after topping a three-week high in its previous session.

As of 10:55 a.m. Singapore time (10:55 p.m. ET Monday), the precious metal was up 0.16% at $3,348.80 per ounce.

Spot gold

Mounting geopolitical tensions and uncertainties from Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs have sent gold prices up by around 28% since the start of the year.

CNBC Pro spoke to three experts on where and how they are investing in the metal right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Bitcoin traded in negative territory Tuesday after it rallied and crossed the $120,000 threshold to hit a new a record high in the previous session.

As of 10.51 a.m. Singapore time (10.50 p.m. Monday ET), the cryptocurrency had declined 1.6% to trade at $118,301.70.

Bitcoin prices

China’s economy grew at a slower clip in the second quarter, slightly beating expectations as trade tensions with the U.S. rattled an economy already mired in deflation and a years-long housing downturn.

China’s gross domestic product expanded by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, slightly beating Reuters-polled economists’ estimates of a 5.1% growth, and decelerating from the 5.4% in the first quarter.

Read the full story here.

— Anniek Bao, Evelyn Cheng

Chinese and Hong Kong-listed stocks started the day higher Monday amid choppy trade in other key Asia-Pacific markets.

As of 9.49 a.m. local time (9.49 p.m. ET Monday), the Hang Seng Index added 1.12%, while mainland’s CSI 300 moved up 0.38%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Asia-Pacific markets started the day mixed Tuesday.

As of 8.10 a.m. Singapore time (8.10 p.m. Monday ET), Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark was flat while the broader Topix index added 0.32%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.31% while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.26%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark advanced 0.66%.

— Amala Balakrishner

Good morning from Singapore.

Investors will be keeping a close watch on a slew of data points from China today, including its growth rate for the second quarter as well as urban investment and retail sales for June.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the Asian giant’s economy to expand 5.1% in the April to June quarter, from 5.4% in the preceding quarter.

Meanwhile, separate polls by Reuters show that China’s urban investments is forecast to have risen 3.6% between January and June, while its retail sales is expected to come in at 5.4% in June, compared to 6.4% the month before.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,560 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,510, against the index’s Monday close of 39,459.62.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 24,264, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s last close of 24,203.32.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was also set to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,599, compared with its last close of 8,570.40.

— Amala Balakrishner

The major stock averages ended Monday in the green.

The S&P 500 edged higher by 0.14%, finishing at 6,268.56, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.27% to settle at 20,640.33. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 88.14 points, or 0.20%, and ended at 44,459.65.

— Pia Singh