Toyota was one of the strongest risers on the Tokyo stock exchange on Tuesday. Investors welcomed the news that the Japanese car manufacturer wants to build significantly more cars this year than last year.
Toyota thinks it can put the problems with the supply of parts due to corona lockdowns behind it. However, the company warned that chip shortages could still break the plans.
Toyota’s share increased by 2.6 percent. Other Japanese automakers such as Honda (plus 1.8 percent) and Nissan (plus 2.6 percent) were also set higher. As a result, the Japanese main index, the Nikkei 225, closed 1.2 percent higher and was, therefore, a positive outlier on the Asian stock markets. In Tokyo, the interest rate decision of the Bank of Japan, which will be announced on Wednesday, was further awaited.
Investors also processed a series of macroeconomic data from China. It turned out that the Chinese economy grew by 3 percent last year. That was more than expected. The second-largest economy in the world, therefore, showed the slowest growth in decades. Growth was also well below the 5.5 percent target that Beijing had set itself for 2022.
However, the growth target was undermined by the strict zero-covid policy that was in place for most of the year. In addition, retail sales fell less than feared in December, and industrial production increased more than expected.
Chinese stock markets fell despite better-than-expected economic data. The main index in Shanghai fell 0.3 percent, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.3 percent. The South Korean Kospi lost 1.1 percent, and the All Ordinaries in Sydney fell a fraction.
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