Markets mostly lower as growth slows in US and China

Markets were mostly lower on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 percent. However, the STOXX Europe 600 eked out a 0.1 percent gain.

A report on Thursday showed that US economic growth slowed to a 2.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 3.4 percent in the third quarter.

Marvin Loh, global macro strategist at State Street, noted that the “GDP numbers were better than expected”.

However, Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades, said that geopolitical tensions “continue to weigh on market sentiment”, with the rising tensions between India and Pakistan the previous day now being reinforced with the failure of denuclearisation talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

Meanwhile, China's factory activity index fell to 49.2 in February, the lowest level in three years, from 49.5 in January. The index has been in contraction territory of less than 50 for three consecutive months.