Asia-Pacific markets opened on Monday, December, largely in the red as traders dissected fresh Chinese manufacturing data and increasing expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut this month.
The CME FedWatch Tool indicates that traders are pricing in an 87.4 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut in the next Fed meeting on December 10. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell by 0.13 percent, and the mainland CSI 300 rose by 0.28 percent.
A private survey released on Monday unexpectedly indicated that the factory activity in China had shrunk in November as the soft domestic demand remained a pall over the second largest economy across the globe.
In a Reuters poll, the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI, conducted by S&P Global, fell to 49.9 in November, short of the expectations of analysts at 50.5. The 50-benchmark level indicates an expansion when the reading is above it, and a contraction when it is below.
The gauge is based on the official data issued on Sunday, indicating that factory activity in China was somewhat better than in November about 49.2, but it continued in contraction in its eighth consecutive month. Services were weakened because the lift of previous holidays was lost.
According to a statement issued by the central bank on Saturday, the Hong Kong-traded companies that were exposed to digital assets crashed upon the warning by the People’s Bank of China that unlawful practices associated with digital currencies and the reappearance speculation.
Shares of Jack Ma-led Yunfeng Financial and Bright Smart Securities and Commodities Group plunged more than 7 percent, and Guotai Junan dropped to 3 percent.
Similarly, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 1.3 percent, and the Topix index dropped to 0.72 percent.
In the list of the bottom movers in the Nikkei 225 index were electrical equipment company Fujikura, which dropped by 8.11 percent, Sumitomo Pharma, which slipped by 5.82 percent, and Advantest, which fell by 4.74 percent.
The Kospi index of South Korea went down by 0.66 percent, and the small-cap Kosdaq went up by 1.29 percent. Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 decreased 0.23 percent.
Therefore, U.S. equity futures were slightly changed during early Asian hours following a victorious week. Wall Street returned to the Thanksgiving holiday and had a shortened trading session on the stateside on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.65 percent to finish the day at 23,365.69, registering its fifth consecutive winning performance.
Thus, the S&P 500 was up 0.54 percent to settle at 6,849.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average expanded 289.30 points, or 0.61 percent, to end at 47,716.42.
