On Monday morning (2 February, 9:37 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), most major indices in the Asia Pacific exhibited a downward trend, with investors digesting new data on Chinese manufacturing activity for January. The session preceded a week featuring interest rate decisions in Europe and the UK, the U.S. jobs report, and a series of major corporate earnings announcements.
The RatingDog China General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 50.3 for January, up slightly from December’s figure of 50.1 and matched Reuters forecasts from economists surveyed in advance.
Analysts noted that factories in China increased output and advanced shipments ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year break. The new figure marks the sector’s fastest rate of growth since October, when the index reached 50.6.
Elsewhere, U.S. political developments contributed to global investor sentiment. The federal government entered a partial shutdown on Saturday following a funding impasse, as lawmakers awaited approval of an agreement developed by President Donald Trump and Democratic leadership. This followed public unrest after a recent incident involving a Border Patrol agent and a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.
South Korea’s KOSPI slumped by 3.21% to 5,056.45. Australia’s ASX 200 decreased by 0.95% to 8,784.70, while Japan’s NIKKEI climbed by 0.08% to 53,364.71.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC dropped by 0.73% to 4,087.97. Shenzhen’s SZI fell by 0.77% to 14,097.19, and Hong Kong’s HSI lost 1.59% to 26,950.72.
The U.S. stock markets edged down on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined by 0.36% to 48,892.47. NASDAQ was down by 0.94% to 23,461.81, and S&P 500 shrank by 0.43% to 6,939.03. VIX surged by 3.32% to 17.44.
As for commodities, oil prices declined on Monday following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump indicating that Iran had entered into significant discussions with the United States, which suggested easing tensions with the OPEC member after fears of potential military conflict had previously pushed oil prices to their highest levels in several months.
This morning, Brent crude futures plummeted $2.40, or 3.46%, to $66.92 per barrel, and the WTI plunged $2.36, or 3.62%, to $62.85 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures lost 0.51% to $4,690.00 per Troy ounce.
