Residents shop at a supermarket in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, on March 9, 2024.
Costfoto | Nurphoto Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set lower on Monday after China’s October inflation figures came in lower than expected, fueling concerns about the recovery of the world’s second largest economy.
The country’s inflation rate fell to 0.3%, missing expectations of 0.4% and also lower than the 0.4% seen in September. October figures show inflation fell for the second straight month.
On Monday, China will also kick off Singles Day – the country’s equivalent of Black Friday. A note from ING on Friday said that Singles Day will show how consumption is going in China.
“We suspect that given the shift to value-for-money purchases and online shopping, we will continue to see solid growth numbers from events that should more easily outpace overall consumption growth momentum.”
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 20,265, indicating a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 20,728.19.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 will also decline, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,305 and the pair in Osaka at 39,140 against the index’s last close of 39,500.37.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 since the day down 0.37%.
On Friday in the US, the stock market rose to new highs, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 notching their best week in a year after Donald Trump’s election victory.
The blue-chip Dow rose 259.65 points, or 0.59%, to close at 43,988.99. During the session, the Dow traded above 44,000 for the first time
The S&P 500 gained 0.38% to close at 5,995.54, after briefly trading above 6,000. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose just 0.09% to 19,286.78.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
