China Stocks Fall Following Weak Economic Data

Chinese stocks dropped on Thursday following weak economic data. The Shanghai Composite dropped 15.63 points, or 0.5 percent to 3,116.31.

China’s industrial profits rose 7.7 percent year-over-year in September, down versus the 19.5 percent growth in the prior month, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

Shares of PetroChina dropped 2.5 percent on Thursday. Cnooc shares fell over 3 percent after the company posted a 7.7 percent on-year drop in third-quarter production to 117.7 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Chinese company ZTO Express raised $1.4 billion in the U.S. IPO, after pricing shares at $19.50 per share.

Investors will be looking to the U.S. GDP data third quarter. The data will be released on Friday.

US stock markets ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.17 percent, to 18,199, the S&P500 index dropping 0.17 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite slipping 0.63 percent.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures gained 0.20 percent to trade at $50.08 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures on the NYMEX rose 0.20 percent to trade at $49.28 a barrel.