Asian markets: Shanghai Composite gains despite JPMorgan and Markit revealing weak global manufacturing data

Asian markets: Shanghai Composite trades higher despite JPMorgan and Markit revealing weak global manufacturing data — Asian stock market indices were trading in a mixed pattern on 2 June Reuters

While Asian stock market indices were tracing a mixed pattern on 2 June, the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.11% at 2,916.72 as of 6.02am GMT. This was despite data compiled by JPMorgan and Markit revealing that there was a "broad stagnation" in global manufacturing.

The JPMorgan global manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), an indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector in the world, declined to 50.0 for the month of May. While this signals stagnation, it is also lower from April's PMI of 50.1, which had indicated expansion.

Markit, the financial information and services company, which is also involved in preparing the PMI report, said: "Rates of expansion in production and new orders also eased to a near-stagnation, while the pace of contraction in new export business was one of the steepest during the past three years." It added: "The muted performance of manufacturing was also reflected in the labour market, as staffing levels fell for the fourth straight month."

Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics at HSBC, opined: "Headline PMIs were broadly disappointing. New orders point to little upside in the coming months. If anything, for most countries, it suggests an equally soggy summer."

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 2 June at 6.13am GMT:

Country	Index	Price	Up/Down	%Change
Hong Kong	Hang Seng Index	20,789.37	UP	0.14%
Japan	Nikkei 225	16,563.24	DOWN	2.31%
South Korea	KOSPI	1,986.61	UP	0.20%
India	CNX Nifty	8,164.20	DOWN	0.19%
Australia	S&P/ASX 200	5,278.90	DOWN	0.83%

Overnight (1 June), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,789.67, up 0.01%, while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,191.93, down 0.62%.

Among commodities, oil prices which were trading at an eight-month high recently, slipped. This was amid traders awaiting the outcome of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which is scheduled today (2 June). While the meeting is to discuss production cuts, it is likely that Iran may not support a collective freeze. On 2 June, WTI crude oil was trading 0.37% lower at $48.83 (£33.84, €43.62) a barrel, while Brent was trading 0.12% lower at $49.66 a barrel at 6.28am GMT.