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Tokyo, Japan (BBN) – Stocks in Asia were mostly lower on Thursday following a slightly lower close on Wall Street in the last session and the release of Caixin PMI data from China, which was at an 11-month low.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 0.83 percent, while the Kospi reversed earlier gains to trade lower by 0.2 percent, reports cnbc.com.
Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 was mostly steady, trading down 0.11 percent.
Markets in greater China were in the red. The Hang Seng Index edged lower by 0.08 percent.
The Shanghai Composite was down 0.48 percent while the Shenzhen Composite declined 0.616 percent.
This followed the release of Caixin manufacturing PMI figures for China in the month of May.
The data showed factory activity fell to an 11 month low, coming in at 49.6 compared to the 50.1 forecast.
Indonesian markets were closed for a public holiday.
The start of the new month will also bring with it a fair amount of risk for markets to navigate, IG Strategist Chris Weston said in a note.
“There will be a reasonable amount of event risk to work through, not just with U.K. elections (June 8), with the ramifications of that event seemingly contained to U.K. assets, but key central bank meetings from the European Central Bank (also June 8) and Federal Reserve (June 14),” Weston said.
“Of course, we will keep a focus on all things Trump too, and his approval rating, given the dollar’s correlation there.”
Meanwhile, annual economic growth figures in India slowed in the quarter ended March, coming in at 6.1 percent. The weaker than expected figures released yesterday reflected the lagged impact of demonetization, Goldman Sachs said in an early morning note, adding that economic growth for the year remained in line with expectations.
Oil prices gained after falling 3 percent in the last session. U.S. crude jumped 0.83 percent to trade at $48.72 a barrel while Brent crude gained 0.73 percent at $51.14.
Against a basket of six major currencies, the dollar traded at 96.972, softer than levels around the 97 handle seen last week.
The dollar was mostly steady against the yen. At 10:08 a.m. HK/SIN, the greenback fetched 110.83 yen, lower than the 111 handle seen last week but off lows of 110.65 seen in the overnight session.
Meanwhile, the British pound recovered slightly after falling to a one-month low earlier in the week. The pound last traded at $1.2884.
Stateside, stocks closed slightly lower due to soft performance from financials and concerns over inflation after the Fed’s Beige Book was released. Following the release of the Beige Book on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield at one pointdipped below 2.2 percent mark.
Key U.S. economic data is expected after Asian trading hours, with the ADP employment report, ISM manufacturing PMI and auto sales for the month of May due later in the day.
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