Investing.com - Shares in Asia were mixed on Monday with Sydney and Hong Kong up, but Tokyo and Shanghai down as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve for the word on interest rates.
The Shanghai Composite eased 0.38% and the Nikkei 225 fell 0.50%. The Hang Seng index however rose 0.77% and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.34%.
In China at the weekend, data showed fixed asset investment rose 10.9%, just below the 11% seen, while industrial production gained 6.1%, below the 6.4% expected and retail sales rose 10.8%, above the 10.5% seen.
Last week, U.S. stocks ended the week broadly higher on Friday, as relatively strong producer inflation data combined with weak consumer sentiment provided investors with further uncertainty on if the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite index and S&P Composite index all posted modest gains, as investors prepare for the Federal Open Market Committee's highly-anticipated two-day meeting beginning on Wednesday. Nearly a decade has passed since the FOMC has raised its benchmark Federal Funds Rate. The Dow gained 102.69 or 0.63% to 16,433.09, ending the week up by roughly 2% while the NASDAQ added 26.09 or 0.54% to close on Friday at 4,822.34.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, gained 8.76 or 0.45% to 1,961.05, as eight of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Consumer Services, Health Care and Utilities sectors led, each closing up by more than 0.70% on the session. Stocks in the Energy and Basic Materials industries lagged. The Dow and S&P 500 both posted their best weekly performances in two months.
On Friday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said its headline Producer Price Index for August remained unchanged in August, following a 0.2% gain a month earlier. The reading came in substantially higher than low end of consensus estimates of a 0.6% decline.
Meanwhile, the Core PPI-FD, which strips out food and energy prices, ticked up by 0.3%, marking the third consecutive month of considerable gains. On a yearly basis, the core reading has increased by 0.9%, providing support to hawkish views for an imminent rate hike.