ASIAN STOCKS UP ON STRONG CHINA MANUFACTURING SURVEY

Asian stocks edged higher on Tuesday after strong readings on China’s vast manufacturing sector offset the weak lead from a softer Wall Street session, Paulina Durtan and Alwyn Scott reported for Reuters on September 1, 2020.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, to regain some ground it had lost on Monday.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong traded 0.18% higher while the Shanghai Composite also recovered early losses to stand 0.1% higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 erased early losses to trade flat. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest clip in nearly a decade in August, bolstered by the first increase in new export orders this year. Taiwan stocks gained 0.5% after the United States said on Monday it was establishing a new bilateral economic dialogue with the country, an initiative it said was designed to support Taipei. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was an outlier, declining 2.4% to four-week lows on rising diplomatic tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

“What we are seeing here is the slow but choppy export recovery that is taking a bit longer than maybe some market participants thought it would - and that’s because markets remain largely out of sync,” said Daniel Gerard, senior multi asset strategist at State Street Global Markets, based in Singapore. “September is also going to be a choppy recovery, and until we get closer to more news about a vaccine it’s going to remain that way.”