China Recap

Stocks in mainland China fell slightly lower Thursday, after government data showed that inflation eased from recent highs but the economy grew at its slowest rate since 2005. China’s National Bureau of Statistics said gross domestic product grew 10.1% during the second-quarter vs. 10.6% in the first-quarter and inflation cooled to 7.1% in June vs. 7.7% in May and 8.5% in April.

"It's very likely they authorities are going to continue to adopt austerity measures," said Alex Tang, head of research at Core-Pacific Yamaichi in Hong Kong. "We are going to see a slowdown in China's economy in the second half of this year."

Stocks in Hong Kong sidestepped the selling pressure and soared higher Thursday, breaking a two day losing streak, after crude oil prices crashed lower by the largest amount in a one day trading-session since January of 1991.

"Investors were relieved after the price of oil fell last night, easing worries about the global economy going into a recession. Hopefully, the decline in oil prices will continue and crash to $100 a barrel," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 21 points, or 0.8%, to 2,684.78 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index traded up 511.22 points, or 2.41%, to 21,734.72. Here's a look at how some China-based American depositary shares traded in the U.S. on Thursday.

Shares of Chinese Internet search leader Baidu.com (BIDU) slipped 4.5% in after hours trading after U.S.-based search giant Google (GOOG) announced its second-quarter earnings fell below Wall Street expectations and U.S. paid clicks dropped from the first-quarter. American depositary shares Baidu.com, which trade on the Nasdaq, slipped $13.88 to $289.02 and shares of Google plunged 7.7% to $492.

Chinese provider of private educational services New Oriental Education & Technology Group (EDU) jumped 6% after the company reported a profit for the fourth-quarter of $1.76 million vs. a net loss of $1.54 million a year ago. The company said quarterly net revenues jumped to $40.17 million vs. $24.7 million last year and well above Wall Street estimates of $34.61 million. New Oriental issued first-quarter net revenue guidance of $103.8 million to $109.5 million vs. street estimates of $106.75 million. Shares of New Oriental Education shot up $4.53 to $72.97 on over 2 times the average daily volume.

Shares of Chinese alternative energy company Canadian Solar (CSIQ) plunged 12% after the company announced it would price its follow-on public offering of 3,500,000 shares at $34 per share. The solar company said the shares would be available for purchase on or around next Tuesday. The company also granted its underwriters Deutsche Bank Securities and Piper Jaffray a 30-day option to buy up to 525,000 common shares to cover over-allotments. Shares of Canadian Solar fell $4.28 to $31.37.

Chinese oil and gas company China Petroleum and Chemical (SNP) announced it will build an 800,000- ton-per-year ethylene project in central China’s Hainan Province. The company said plans to invest $4.3 billion on a number of projects including Hainan to form the biggest petrochemical plant in central China. Shares of China Petroleum moved up 1% to $96.95.

Elsewhere in the Chinese oil and gas space, shares of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (SHI), surged 2.6% to $31.80; PetroChina (PTR), tacked on 78 cents to $129.29; and CNOOC (CEO), dropped 1.6% to $157.11

China Southern Airlines (ZNH), China’s largest airline by fleet size, announced it plans to slash operating costs by 1.3 billion yuan ($190.9 million) in an effort to combat higher fuel costs, declining passenger volumes and other issues. The company said it would reach the savings by cutting 800 million yuan in infrastructure investments and 500 million in other cots. Shares of China Southern traded up 1.1% to $21.41.

Some of the biggest decliners among Chinese ADRs and China-based stocks Thursday were APT Satellite (ATS), which dropped 9.7% to $1.21; Trina Solar (TSL), which moved lower by 8.4% to $30.61; China Sunergy (CSUN), which shed 8.2% to $7.43; and China Digital TV (STV), which lost 6.6% to $11.91.

Be sure to check out the Far East Portfolio at Stockpickr.com every night to find out which stocks in India and China are making big moves and announcing major news.