Bucking the weakness, electric vehicle stocks gained, with Xpeng Inc (NYSE: XPEV), Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO), and Li Auto Inc (NASDAQ: LI) trading as much as 2%.

Shares of these Chinese companies ended mixed on U.S. bourses on Thursday.

Global Markets Recap: The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded 0.69% lower after paring early losses.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.46% lower on Thursday as investors assessed the scope of expected Fed rate hikes and disappointing big bank earnings.

On Friday, Shanghai's SSE Composite Index gained 0.16%, Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.50%, while Singapore's SGX Nifty traded mutedly.

Check out more of Benzinga's Europe and Asia coverage by following this link.

Macro Factors: Struggling to shake off the impact of COVID-19 curbs, the Chinese economy grew by a paltry 0.4% — below market expectations — in the second quarter from a year earlier.

However, retail sales recovered in June and rose 3.1% from a prior slump, beating analysts' expectations for no growth from the preceding year. The unemployment rate across China’s 31 largest cities fell from pre-pandemic highs to 5.8% in June.

China’s central bank refrained from lowering a key policy rate, holding its one-year medium-term lending facility loans unchanged.

Property and bank stocks also declined as the mainland-China housing market bottomed amid COVID woes.

Internet giant Tencent has reportedly shut down one of its two non fungible tokens (NFT) platforms following government restrictions, according to a local daily.

Painting hopes for peers like Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto, Warren Buffett-backed automotive giant BYD Co Ltd (OTC: BYDDF) said it expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 2.8 billion - 3.6 billion ($533 million) in the first half, up almost 138.59% - 206.76% from a year earlier.

Photo by Maurice NORBERT on Shutterstock