Stocks in Australia and South Korea were lower early Thursday
ahead of economic data from China, while a weaker yen helped
Japanese stocks move higher.
The main economic event of the day will come from China, with
the release of January's preliminary HSBC manufacturing purchasing
managers' index. The final reading for December came out earlier in
the month and showed decelerating growth in factory activity, with
a score of 50.5, from November's 50.8. A score above 50 indicates
an increase in manufacturing, while score a below points towards
contraction.
There have already been signs of an economic slowdown in China,
the latest being from earlier this week when China reported that
growth in gross domestic product had slowed to 7.7% on-year in the
fourth quarter, from 7.8% in the third. Concerns over the economy
have made Chinese stocks one of the worst performers in the region,
with the Shanghai Composite down 3% so far this year.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6%, while Australia's S&P ASX 200
fell 0.1% ahead of the Chinese data.
A number of company reports were in focus in Australia, with
Newcrest Mining rose 1.9% after the gold miner reported that it had
cut spending at a faster-than-expected rate, which had reduced the
cost of sustaining operations by 16% in the final three months of
2013.
Oil and gas producer Santos, beat the downward move of the
broader market in Sydney, moving 0.6% higher after it reported
revenue growth of 12% on year for the 2013 fiscal year.
Japanese stocks managed to move higher, as the yen shifted
closer to the Yen105 to the dollar mark. The Nikkei added 0.6%,
with the dollar last at Yen104.77 compared to Yen104.52 late
Wednesday in New York.
Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires