Chinese stocks took a dive on downbeat data, while banks are weighing on European indexes
Asian markets ended mixed, as traders mulled a raft of data out of China and looked ahead to
this week's Fed policy meeting. China's Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.7%, pressured by lackluster industrial production and fixed-asset investment numbers -- which offset better-than-expected retail sales. Also ending sharply lower was Japan's Nikkei, which slid 1.6% on weakness among telecoms and the kickoff of the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) own policy meeting. Rounding things out, South Korea's Kospi gave back 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng tacked on 0.3%.
European bourses are largely lower at midday, following the lead of their Asian counterparts amid expectations of a U.S. rate hike -- which has
taken a toll on a number of banking stocks. Elsewhere, the stream of migrants from Syria is leaving the eurozone jittery, despite upbeat July industrial production results for the region. Currently, the French CAC 40 and German DAX are off 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, while London's FTSE 100 has inched 0.04% higher.
