Stock market today: Asian markets are mixed on the first trading day of 2024
Asian markets were mostly lower Tuesday following the release of data showing more signs of weakness in the Chinese manufacturing and property sectors.
U.S. futures were higher and oil prices gained more than $1 a barrel. Japan's markets were closed for a holiday.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong sank 1.5% to 16,788.55 and the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.4% to 2,962.28.
Investors were selling property developers like debt-laden China Evergrande, which fell 6%, and LongFor Group Holding, which lost 6.9%. Sino-Ocean Holding declined 4.6%.
The December survey of the official purchasing managers index, or PMI, in China fell to 49 for the third consecutive month, signaling weak demand and underscoring the challenging economic conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.
That contrasted private-sector survey, by financial publication Caixin, which registered a slight improvement in the manufacturing PMI to 50.8, driven by increased output and new orders. However, it showed that business confidence for 2024 remained subdued.
The latest data also showed that the value of new home sales by China's top 100 developers fell nearly 35% from a year earlier in December despite moves by regulators to lift limits on such transactions.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 2,669.81 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.5% to 7,627.80.
Bangkok’s SET added 1.1% while the Sensex in Mumbai lost 0.7%.
Stocks fell Friday on Wall...