Thursday 06:00 BST. Asian bourses are mostly lower after data showing faster factory growth in China could not counteract a weak session on Wall Street.
US futures show the S&P 500 later on Thursday will regain 3 points to 1,930 and European stocks are forecast to slide by about 0.8 per cent at the open.
The closely watched HSBC/Markit Flash China Purchasing Managers’ Index showed a slightly better than expected reading, edging up from September’s 50.2 to 50.4 in October to date. A reading above 50 indicates that manufacturing activity is expanding.
However, analysts at Barclays sounded a note of caution about the PMI figure, saying: “Although the improvement in the PMI is reassuring, the drivers of growth continue to come from the external sector; domestic activity remains soft.”
The positive PMI figure came in contrast with data earlier this week showing that China’s economic growth had slowed to 7.3 per cent in the third quarter year-on-year, as the property market downturn led to slack demand.
Still, analysts at Crédit Agricole said the PMI reading suggested that the world’s second-largest economy was weathering these difficulties.
“The bottom line is that industrial activity remains subdued, but at the same time decent enough to allow the government to achieve its annual growth target,” they wrote.
Greater China bourses were initially unmoved by the data but fell back later with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite off 0.9 per cent.
Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3 per cent, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.5 per cent.
Worries about ample supply pushed the price of Brent down 0.1 per cent to $84.57 a barrel, leaving the global oil benchmark off more than 25 per cent since June.
Gold edged up 0.2 per cent to $1,243 per ounce, and the yield on 10-year US Treasuries fell at 2.1 per cent, having dipped below 2 per cent in intraday trading last week.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 equity index retreated from an early high of 1,949 to end the day 0.7 per cent lower at 1,927, following a 2 per cent jump on Tuesday – its biggest-one day gain in a year.
The benchmark US index has rallied 5.8 per cent since hitting a six-month low of 1,821 last week as fears about global growth weighed on stocks.
US inflation data released on Thursday also hinted that the US central bank would keep its monetary policy steady.
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