Asian markets rose as China’s factory activity contracted for the fourth consecutive month.
Asia-Pacific markets rose on Monday as China’s July factory activity remained in contraction territory for the fourth month in a row.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers index was 49.3, higher than 49.0 in June, according to the national statistics office.
The PMI for non-manufacturing activity came in at 51.5, a slower rate of expansion compared to 53.2 in June.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose more than 1.71 percent, while the Hang Seng Tech index saw a larger increase of 4.84 percent. At current levels, this would be the first time HSI has crossed the 20,000 mark in more than a month.
Mainland Chinese markets were also up, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 1.27% and the Shenzhen Component Index up 1.16 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.83 percent, while Topix saw a larger gain of 1.52 percent. The country’s industrial output for June came in lower than expected, registering a monthly growth of 2 percent, compared to the 2.4 percent that economists had expected.
In South Korea, Kospi rose 0.88 percent and Kosdaq rose 1.86 percent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index also rose 0.1 percent as investors prepared for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate decision on Tuesday, while economists expected the benchmark policy rate to rise by 25 basis points to 4.35 percent.