Asian stocks put in a mixed performance on Thursday, as Chinese markets digested poor manufacturing data and Thai equities fell to their lowest level in over a year, while the situation in Indonesia was more positive following a trade report.
According to two separate reports, activity growth in China's manufacturing sector eased in December, pushing the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index down 1%.
The government's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), released on Wednesday, fell from 51.4 to 51, missing the 51.2 expected by analysts, while today's HSBC/Markit survey showed that the manufacturing PMI declined from 50.8 to 50.5, broadly in line with forecasts.
"Both of these figures are still above 50, indicating growth, but if we continue to see declines here, people are going to start to worry about whether China can maintain such high growth rates in 2014," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
"Last year, only a targeted stimulus programme from the government prevented growth falling below 7%, these figures suggest similar efforts may be needed in 2014," he added.
Over in Bangkok, the Thailand SET dropped 3% late in the session, dropping to its lowest level since late 2012, ahead of an election which has already been met with strong protests, prompting fears that it will result in a political crisis.
A November trade report from Indonesia prompted the JSX to climb more than 1% late in the session after it showed the country's trade surplus was much higher than expected at $776.8m, compared to a $57m deficit.
In Tokyo markets were closed for a public holiday.
Source: LiveCharts
According to two separate reports, activity growth in China's manufacturing sector eased in December, pushing the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index down 1%.
The government's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), released on Wednesday, fell from 51.4 to 51, missing the 51.2 expected by analysts, while today's HSBC/Markit survey showed that the manufacturing PMI declined from 50.8 to 50.5, broadly in line with forecasts.
"Both of these figures are still above 50, indicating growth, but if we continue to see declines here, people are going to start to worry about whether China can maintain such high growth rates in 2014," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
"Last year, only a targeted stimulus programme from the government prevented growth falling below 7%, these figures suggest similar efforts may be needed in 2014," he added.
Over in Bangkok, the Thailand SET dropped 3% late in the session, dropping to its lowest level since late 2012, ahead of an election which has already been met with strong protests, prompting fears that it will result in a political crisis.
A November trade report from Indonesia prompted the JSX to climb more than 1% late in the session after it showed the country's trade surplus was much higher than expected at $776.8m, compared to a $57m deficit.
In Tokyo markets were closed for a public holiday.
Source: LiveCharts
