SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 01: Skyscrapers stand in Pudong Lujiazui Financial District on March 1, 2022 in Shanghai, China.
Xiao Yang | China Visual Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were generally lower on Friday, trailing Wall Street benchmarks Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 suffered its worst day in nearly two months as Microsoft’s earnings forecast and Meta’s results fell.
Traders in Asia are awaiting economic data from the region.
The reading for China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for October is expected to come in at 49.7, according to a Reuters poll of economists, compared with September’s 49.3, but still in contraction territory.
Readings below 50 indicate contact in manufacturing, while above indicate expansion.
Australia’s third-quarter producer price index rose 3.9% year-on-year, lower than the previous quarter’s reading of 4.8%, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Quarter on quarter, the index increased by 0.9% compared to a 1% increase in the previous quarter.
Japan Nikkei 225 fell more than 2% in the open, while the broad-based Topix dropped 1.4%. The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark policy rate at 0.25% on Thursday.
In South Korea, the Kospi index lost 0.45% and the Kosdaq index fell 1.30%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 20,432, pointing to a rebound from the last close at 20,317.33.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 start trading 1% lower.
Overnight in the US, all three major indexes fell.
The S&P 500 fell 1.86% to 5,705.45 and Nasdaq Composite lost 2.76% to close at 18,095.15 – both recorded their biggest one-day losses since September 3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.9% to end at 41,763.46.
It marked the last trading day of a volatile month on Wall Street, with the Dow 30 stocks recording a monthly loss of 1.3%, the S&P 500 down 1% and the Nasdaq down 0.5%, amid uncertainty ahead of the US Presidential election and Decision Federal Reserve rates next week.
—CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
