Asian markets reverse early gains as China property stocks plunge; Japan service inflation heats up
Tiananmen, Gate of Heavenly Peace, Beijing
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Asia-Pacific markets started the week largely lower, with Chinese markets dragged by property stocks and Japan’s service inflation surging to a 45-month high.
Data showed Japan’s service PPI rose 2.3% in October to its highest level since January 2020 and more than the prior month’s reading of 2%.
On Monday, China’s industrial profits continued to shrink in November, but at its slowest pace in almost a year, according to data released by the government.
The world’s second largest economy will release its official factory activity figures for November on Thursday, while the Caixin survey for the same metric will be out on Friday.
Australia will release its October inflation figures on Wednesday, which will offer clues to its central bank’s policy moves. India’s gross domestic product numbers for the three months ended September will be released late Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.04%, while mainland Chinese markets were also in negative territory, with the CSI 300 index tumbling 1.03%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.44%, reversing gains earlier in the day.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 also slipped 0.43%, but the index is close to breaching its 33-year high of 33,753.33, hit on July 3. The Topix, meanwhile, shed 0.39%
South Korea’s Kospi was the only major benchmark in positive territory, up 0.1%, but the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.36%.
On Friday in the U.S., the three major indexes were mixed in a shortened trading session.
The 30-stock Dow rose 0.33% while the S&P 500 ticked higher by 0.06%. However, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.11%.
Major retail shares rose slightly as Black Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season. Walmart and Target rose 0.9% and 0.74%, respectively, while Amazon ticked higher by 0.02%.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
