On Monday morning (1 December, 9:33 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), major indices in Asia Pacific exhibited a varied performance as investors digested the latest manufacturing figures from China and increased speculation about a potential rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The CME FedWatch Tool indicates traders are assigning an 87.4% probability to a Fed rate cut at the upcoming meeting scheduled for December 10.
In China, factory activity shrank in November, with the RatingDog General Manufacturing PMI falling to 49.9, below analysts’ forecast of 50.5, as weak domestic demand persisted.
This comes after official data, released on Sunday, indicated manufacturing continued to contract for an eighth consecutive month, and the services sector lost momentum as the impact from earlier holidays diminished.
Japan’s NIKKEI dropped by 1.73% to 49,384.67. Australia’s ASX 200 fell by 0.34% to 8,584.70, while South Korea’s KOSPI surged by 0.22% to 3,935.06.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC grew by 0.25% to 3,898.23. Shenzhen’s SZI rose by 0.50% to 13,049.19, and Hong Kong’s HSI advanced by 0.82% to 26,071.23.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) expanded by 0.61% to 47,716.42. NASDAQ gained 0.65% to 23,365.68, and S&P 500 added 0.54% to 6,849.09. VIX declined by 5.00% to 16.35.
As for commodities, oil prices increased on Monday following the OPEC+ decision to maintain a halt on production hikes through the first quarter of next year. Brent crude futures rose by 94 cents, or 1.51%, reaching $63.32 per barrel as of 2327 GMT. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 90 cents, or 1.54%, to trade at $59.45 a barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures climbed by 0.58% to $4,279.50 per Troy ounce.
