Friday 29 Mar 2024
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TOKYO (Oct 23): Asian stocks fell, paring yesterday’s jump, after U.S. shares declined and as investors awaited preliminary data on China’s manufacturing.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.3 percent to 137.45 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo after surging 1.4 percent yesterday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.7 percent as energy shares led losses amid a drop in oil prices. The Asian equity gauge swung an average 0.9 percent each day this month, compared with 0.5 percent for the first nine months of the year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

‘There’s going to continue to be volatility,’’ said Donald Williams, Sydney-based chief investment officer at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. that oversees about A$1.6 billion ($1.4 billion). “China is neutral to the global situation. We would focus on Chinese data if they give very high or very low indications, but a vast majority of Chinese data has come in more or less as expected.”

A preliminary reading of China’s October manufacturing as measured by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics may come in at 50.2, according to the median estimate of analysts, unchanged from the previous month’s final number.

Japan’s Topix index slid 0.7 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.2 percent. Markets in Hong Kong and China are yet to open.

Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed today. The cost of living in the U.S. barely rose in September, with the consumer-price index climbing 0.1 percent after decreasing 0.2 percent in August, a Labor Department report showed.

Advance contracts on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index both fell 0.1 percent in their most recent trading session. The Bloomberg China-US Index of Chinese stocks traded in the U.S. dropped 0.4 percent yesterday.

 

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