Asia-Pacific markets mixed ahead of RBA decision, private survey on China’s factory activity

Abigail Ng

Shares in the Asia-Pacific set to inch higher on Tuesday ahead of Australia’s central bank decision and the results of a private survey on Chinese factory activity. The Fed’s meeting also begins on Tuesday stateside.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 0.15% while the Topix also rose 0.23%.The Kospi in South Korea also rose 0.28%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was fractionally lower as analysts expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, according a Reuters poll.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	27621.33	33.87	0.12
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	14687.02	0	0
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	6867.3	3.8	0.06
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	2893.48	0	0
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2306.95	13.34	0.58
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	6752.18	19.15	0.28

In China, economists expect the Caixin manufacturing PMI reading to be 49, representing a contraction in factory activity, according to a separate Reuters survey. Toyota and Sony are slated to report earnings.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks dipped, but the Dow posted its best month since 1976 and all the major averages ended the month in positive territory after two months of losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 128.85 points, or 0.39%, to 32,732.95. The S&P 500 lost 0.75% to 3,871.98, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.03% to 10,988.15.

— CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.

Japan spent $42.7 billion to prop up the yen, ministry says

Japanese officials spent 6.35 trillion yen ($42.7 billion) between Sept. 29 and Oct. 27 to defend its weakening currency that reached the weakest levels in 32 years last month.

That amount is more than double the amount spent from Aug. 30 to Sept. 28, when officials spent more than 2.83 trillion yen ($19 billion) to defend the weakening yen.

A Reuters estimate citing brokers predicted that authorities spent 6.4 trillion yen over two consecutive trading days of unannounced intervention earlier this month.

–Jihye Lee

Hang Seng loses more than 14% in the month of October

Asia-Pacific market performance in October

Market	Month-to-date performance	Year-to-date performance
Australia’s S&P ASX 200	6.01%	-7.81%
Japan’s Nikkei 225	4.5%	-5.86%
South Korea’s Kospi	6.23%	-23.1%
China’s Shanghai Composite	-4.33%	-20.5%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng	-14.55%	-37.1%

Mainland China and Hong Kong markets underperformed Asia-Pacific peers in the month of October.

The Hang Seng index wallowed at its lowest levels since April 2009 after losing 14.55% as of Monday’s close.

Meanwhile, stocks in Australia, Japan and South Korea posted single-digit gains to close the first month of the year’s final quarter, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 4.33%.

Japan stocks closed at their highest since Sept. 20, but major APAC indexes were all still underwater from the start of the year.

— Abigail Ng

Source : CNBC