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SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific stocks saw modest moves in trading Monday as investors took in the release of China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for November.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced Monday that the official manufacturing PMI for November was at 52.1. That was above expectations for a 51.5 reading forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
PMI readings above 50 signify expansion, while those below that level represent contraction. PMI readings are sequential and show expansion or contraction month over month.
Monday’s data release represented the ninth consecutive month of expansion for the recovery of Chinese manufacturing, as the country continues to experience a strong rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.
Silenced markets
Markets in the region changed shortly after the data was released.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell below the flat line, while the Topix index fell 0.5%.
Japan’s retail sales rose 6.4% year-on-year in October, according to a preliminary report from the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The data matched a mid-market forecast, according to Reuters.
South Korea’s Kospi was 0.44% lower.
Meanwhile, Australian stocks fell as the S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.58%.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific equity index outside of Japan traded 0.05% lower.
The markets will be monitoring HSBC’s stocks in Hong Kong following a Financial Times report that the bank is considering an exit from US retail banking.
Markets in India are closed on Monday for a holiday.
Trade frictions between Washington and Beijing may also have weighed on investor sentiment on Monday. Reuters reported, citing sources, that the Trump administration is ready to add China’s top chipmaker SMIC and oil and gas producer CNOOC to a defense blacklist.
Oil prices fall
Oil prices fell in the morning of Asian business hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 1.39% to $ 47.51 a barrel. US crude futures also lost 0.99% to $ 45.08 a barrel.
The US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its peers, stood at 91,689 after falling in recent days from levels above 92.
The Japanese yen was trading at 103.85 per dollar after strengthening from levels above 104.4 against the dollar last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7398, having risen from levels below $ 0.732 the previous week.
