HONG KONG, Jan 18 (AFP): Hong Kong stocks climbed to a fresh record on Thursday as investors tracked another milestone on Wall Street but Asia-wide markets struggled to keep up the recent momentum.
But while the afternoon saw a slight wobble across the region and some analysts warned of a possible correction, traders remain bullish on equities thanks to a healthy global economic outlook, optimism over the impact of Donald trump's tax cuts and strong corporate earnings.
Hong Kong rose 0.4 per cent, holding above the 32,000 mark it broke in the morning for the first time in its history. The market has fallen only once in the past 17 trading days.
Shanghai ended up 0.9 per cent. After the market closed data showed the Chinese economy grew a forecast-beating 6.9 per cent in 2017, the first annual improvement since 2010.
Analysts surveyed by AFP had predicted 6.8 per cent growth, which was better than the government target of around 6.5 per cent.
The GDP reading follows strong trade data last week, which showed the humming global economy had propelled China's export machine.
"This momentum, especially the part fuelled by external demand, may carry on well into 2018," said Wei Yao, chief China economist at Societe Generale.
Seoul was slightly higher, while Taipei, Bangkok and Jakarta also rose.
However, Tokyo dipped 0.4 after a late sell-off on profit-taking but still sits at 26-year highs, while Sydney was marginally lower and Singapore shed 0.5 per cent. Wellington and Manila were also down.
A survey by Bank of America found fund managers were upbeat about the outlook and see equities continuing to rise into next year.
And Lucy MacDonald, chief investment officer for global equities at Allianz Global Investors, told Bloomberg Television: "It's time for relative caution but we're still overall pro-equity."
"Word of caution -
However, she added that "nominal returns in markets are liable to be lower than they've been in the recent past".
There was also a word of caution from Joachim Fels at Pacific Investment Management, who said "the fact that the fear is gone is the main reason why we should be worried".
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