TOKYO: Asian shares advanced on Thursday as dovish comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve chief and fresh liquidity from China's central bank propped up investor appetite, even as inflationary and growth risks hung over the outlook.
Separately, data from China showed its economic recovery losing steam, with second quarter growth slowing and missing expectations.
"On an annualised quarterly basis, which many developed countries use, China's growth was about 5.3%, which is higher than other countries but not strong by China's standards," said Tomo Kinoshita, global strategist at Invesco Asset Management.
"And we expect growth to slow in the second half of this year due to weakness in exports and investments."
The Chinese data also showed retail sales, industrial output and fixed investment growth softening, though not as much as expected.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8%, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng leading with 1.3% gains, recovering from this month's earlier falls, which were driven by tech firms.
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