Asia markets poised to rise ahead of business activity surveys out of China

Asia-Pacific markets are set to largely rise ahead of business activity data and inflation reports from countries around the region this week.

For Monday, China will see the official release of its purchasing managers index in July for both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sector.

Expectations from economists polled by Reuters are that the PMI for the manufacturing sector will come in at 49.2, which will mean that the sector will stay in contraction territory for a fourth straight month.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 20,160, pointing to a stronger open compared to compared to the HSI’s close of 19,916.56. This would be the first time that the HSI breached the 20,000 mark in over a month.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set for a positive open, with the futures contract in Chicago at 33,160 and its counterpart in Osaka at 33,100 against the index’s last close of 32,759.23.

However, in Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 point to a lower open, at 7,376 compared to the last close of 7,403.6. Investors will be watching the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate decision on Tuesday, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a 25 basis points hike in its benchmark policy rate to 4.35%.