Asia-Pacific markets set to mostly rise as investors await key economic readings from the region
A heavy traffic jam with many cars on the road in Chaoyang district in Beijing, China.
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to kick-start a data-heavy week mostly higher, with investors awaiting economic readings from several countries, including Japan, South Korea and China.
Over the weekend, China released its official purchasing managers’ index reading for November. Manufacturing PMI came in at 50.3 — its highest level since April — beating the 50.2 expected by economists polled by Reuters. Manufacturing PMI came in at 50.1 in October.
China’s non-manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.0 from 50.2 in the previous month, while composite PMI held steady at 50.8.
A reading higher than 50 shows expansion in activity, while below that shows contraction.
On Monday, manufacturing PMI readings from S&P Global will be released for economies throughout Asia, including the Caixin PMI survey for China.
Australia will announce retail sales for the fourth quarter, while Indonesia will disclose its inflation numbers for November later in the day.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,642, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 19,423.61.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.26%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to slip, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,205 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,190 against the index’s last close of 38,208.03.
On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 rose to new heights and recorded their best months of 2024 amid a shortened trading day.
The S&P 500 added 0.56%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.83%. The Dow climbed 188.59 points, or 0.42%. Both the Dow and S&P 500 notched new intraday and closing highs.
Some of the upward momentum came from chip stocks, which popped after Bloomberg reported that the Biden administration was considering additional barriers to the sale of semiconductor equipment to China that weren’t as strong as previously expected. Lam Research rallied more than 3%, while Nvidia jumped more than 2%.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring contributed to this report.
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