Investing.com - Most Asian stocks traded lower Thursday after a surprisingly weak May flash reading of China’s Purchasing Managers Index, but Japanese stocks held up despite the news.
In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.68%, touching its highest levels since late 2007 after USD/JPY traded slightly higher.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 1.7% while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.66% after HSBC said its flash reading of China’s Purchasing Managers' Index for May fell to 49.6. HSBC’s April PMI reading was 50.4. Readings below 50 indicate contraction and the May flash reading is the first time since October that China has slipped below the 50 level.
The new orders index fell to 49.5, the worst reading since last September. China’s official PMI data will be released next week. Following a tepid batch of Chinese economic data points last month, some analysts pared their 2013 GDP growth forecasts for the world’s second-largest economy to 7.5% from 8%.
That data point weighed on Australian equities because China is that country’s largest trading partner. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.7%. Australian stocks also came under pressure after Ford Australia said it will shutter its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants in October 2016, leading to the loss of 1,200 jobs in the process.
Although the Aussie has been sliding recently, it is still strong against the greenback by historical standards and that strength may have prompted the glum news from Ford. The company said its manufacturing costs in Australia are double that of its costs in Europe and nearly quadruple its costs in Asia.
New Zealand’s NZSE 50 fell 0.14%. China is also New Zealand’s largest trading partner.
South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.64%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 0.47% after Statistics Singapore said that Singaporean GDP fell 0.2% in the first quarter following a 1.5% fourth-quarter increase. Analysts expected a first-quarter increase of 0.5%.
S&P 500 futures fell 0.12% a day after the benchmark U.S. index settled lower by 0.83%.