Commercial and residential buildings seen from the rooftop of the Lotte Corp. World Tower at sunset in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.
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Asia-Pacific markets were set to open mixed on Monday as investors look toward a packed week of economic data and assess China’s business activity figures released over the weekend.
Among the economic data coming out from major Asian markets are inflation data from South Korea, Australia’s second-quarter GDP data, as well as data on pay and household spending from Japan later this week.
China released its official purchasing managers’ index data for August. The manufacturing PMI fell to a six month low of 49.1, a faster contraction compared to the 49.4 seen in July.
The figure also missed the median forecast of 49.5 from economists polled by Reuters, with the index marking its fourth straight month in contraction territory.
On the other hand, China’s non-manufacturing PMI climbed to 50.3, up from July’s 50.2.
Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 8,031, retreating from a near all time high of 8,091.9.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a stronger open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,020 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,010 compared to the previous close of 38,647.75.
Should the futures prove true, this would be the first time the Nikkei is above the 39,000 mark since July 31.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,785, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,989.07.
On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a fresh record high, with the blue-chip index jumping 0.55% to close at 41,563.08. The S&P 500 advanced 1.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.13%.
On Friday, traders also assessed key inflation data watched closely by the Federal Reserve.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 0.2% on a monthly basis in July and 2.5% from a year ago, in line with estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones.
Excluding food and energy, it also rose 0.2% from the prior month.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report.