Asia Relieved as China Flash PMI Beats Low Expectations

Sydney: Asian shares recouped early losses on Tuesday while commodities won a break from recent selling pressure after a reading on China's massive factory sector outpaced the market's bleak expectations.

The HSBC flash reading on manufacturing (PMI) for September rose to 50.5, from 50.2 in August and confounding forecasts for a dip to 50.0.

The market had been braced for something even worse and the relief helped Chinese stocks move into the black and the Australian dollar blip higher. The Asian giant is Australia's single biggest export market and investors often use the currency as a liquid proxy for China plays.

Annette Beacher, head of Asia-Pacific research at TD Securities, noted the flash PMIs had averaged 50.9 for the third quarter, a pickup over the previous quarter's 49.6.

"After the dismal industrial production print for August, financial markets were increasingly of the view that China is slowing at a more rapid pace than desired, so today's print provides a welcome offset," said Beacher.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.6 per cent and the CSI300 of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listings bounced 0.7 per cent.

Australia's main index rallied to be up 0.5 per cent, though the best that MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan could manage was to turn flat. Japanese markets were shut for a holiday.

Hindering sentiment was news the United States and partner nations were carrying out the first air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, a far more complicated front in the battle against militants.

Shares had begun badly after Wall Street took a dip overnight. The Dow had ended Monday down 0.62 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq 1.14 per cent.

The drop in the S&P was the biggest one-day decline since early August and was caused in part by a soft reading on US existing home sales which hit shares in building companies.

US dollar in demand

The soggy data gave a fillip to Treasuries, as did comments from New York Federal Reserve bank president William Dudley that there was still excessive slack in the economy so any increase in rates should be done cautiously.

Dudley played down the importance of the various interest rate projections of Fed members released last week which some in the market had taken as a signal of a hawkish turn.

That helped yields on two-year paper ease back to 0.553 per cent and away from a top of 0.597 hit last week.

Yields on 10-year Treasury notes dipped to 2.56 per cent, from 2.59 per cent late Friday.

Dudley also said the steady rise in the dollar could complicate the Fed's job, potentially hurting US economic performance and pushing down inflation.

The currency has been on a tear recently thanks to the diverging outlook for US rates and those in Europe and Japan, where policy is set to remain super-easy and might even be loosened further.

Measured against a basket of currencies the dollar had climbed for 10 weeks straight, the longest streak since the index was created in 1971.

On Tuesday, the dollar was taking a breather at 108.74 yen after peaking at a six-year high of 109.46 last week. The euro was hanging on at $1.2852 having been at its lowest since July last year at $1.2814.

The Australian dollar recouped just a little of its recent losses on the China survey and nudged up to $0.8893.

Likewise, gold inched higher to $1,218.04, having touched its lowest since January at $1,208.36 on Monday.

Brent crude oil for November delivery bounced 32 cents to 97.29 a barrel, having fallen sharply overnight to be uncomfortably close to its recent trough of $96.21. US crude rose 40 cents to $91.27 a barrel.

Ample supply and slowing economic growth in Europe and China had been outweighing expectations of a cut in oil output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2014