Asian equities were mixed on Thursday in a quiet session with several markets shut for the ‘May 1’ public holiday, including China, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Focus was on China’s official purchase manufacturing index (PMI), which rose to 50.4 in April. The reading was slightly better than March’s official figure of 50.3 and HSBC’s preliminary April reading of 48.3. Still, it missed analyst estimates for a 50.5 reading.
“This figure didn’t have much impact at all, leaving the major bourses in the region to their own devices. As a consolation though it showed a slight improvement from the previous reading of 50.3 and perhaps this is the beginning of some stabilization after a bad run,” said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in a note.
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