Asian stock markets rise after China data

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