Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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SYDNEY (Feb 2): Asian stocks fell for a fourth day after data signaled Chinese manufacturing shrank last month for the first time in more than two years and the U.S. economy grew less than forecast.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 0.3 percent to 139.98 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, before markets opened in China and Hong Kong. The measure gained 1.8 percent in January, rebounding from two months of losses.

China’s official purchasing managers’ index showed an unexpected contraction, data at the weekend showed, boosting prospects Asia’s largest economy will add to stimulus amid a wave of global monetary easing. The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace than forecast in the fourth quarter as cooling business investment, a slump in government outlays and a widening trade gap took some of the luster off the biggest gain in consumer spending in almost nine years.

The China data “will be stoking hard landing fears that are ever present in market thinking,” said Evan Lucas, Melbourne-based market strategist at IG Ltd. “The fact new exports are also declining is a big issue on a macro-level. It illustrates that the lower growth in the global economy is impacting consumption of Chinese goods.”

Japan’s Topix index slid 0.8 percent as the yen gained 0.2 percent to 117.26 per dollar, after strengthening 0.7 percent on Friday. South Korea’s Kospi index was little changed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.3 percent as energy shares gained. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.1 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed after the underlying gauge last week posted its steepest slide since Dec. 12.

Gross domestic product in the U.S. rose an annualized 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter, trailing the 3 percent growth estimate from economists and falling from 5 percent in the three months to the end of September.

China Economy

HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics release their China manufacturing PMI for January today, after the government’s measure fell to 49.8 from 50.1 in December. That missed the median estimate of 50.2 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists and for the first time since September 2012 fell below the 50 level that separates expansion and contraction.

Crude oil surged Friday by the most since June 2012 after a drop in the U.S. rig count signaled the slump in prices over the past seven months will curb output. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery climbed 8.3 percent to $48.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

 

 

 

 

 

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