China stocks rebound on stronger manufacturing

JOE McDONALD
AP Business Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese stocks rebounded Tuesday on unexpectedly strong manufacturing but other Asian markets fell following Wall Street’s tumble.

KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 2,293.71 and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.4 percent at 5,382.70. Tokyo was closed for a holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.3 percent to 23,891.66 and Seoul’s Kospi shed 0.6 percent to 2,026.72. Benchmarks also fell in Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines and New Zealand.

CHINESE MANUFACTURING: A preliminary version of HSBC’s purchasing managers’ index showed unexpectedly strong manufacturing in September, helping to ease fears of a sharper slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. The PMI rose to 50.5 from August’s 50.2 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate expansion. That exceeded forecasts that called for a decline due to a slump in China’s real estate market, a major driver of manufacturing activity.

THE QUOTE: “Growth in (Chinese) industry edged up somewhat in September, thus providing a modicum of comfort to policymakers and markets. Looking ahead, the short-term outlook for organic growth is modest but not alarming,” said Louis Kuijs of Royal Bank of Scotland in a report.

WALL STREET: Stocks were dragged down by concern about Chinese growth and a slide in oil prices despite optimism about the overall U.S. growth outlook. The Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 0.8 percent to 1,994.29 for its biggest one-day decline since Aug. 5. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.1 percent.

EUROPE DATA: Germany, the continent’s biggest economy, was expected to show an improvement in its purchasing managers’ index after disappointing August figures. France reports quarterly economic growth that is expected to show a modest improvement over the previous quarter’s flat performance. The French purchasing managers’ index was expected to show improvement but still a contraction in manufacturing and services activity.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude was up 48 cents to $91.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

CURRENCIES: The dollar declined to 108.73 yen from Monday’s 108.77 yen. The euro rose to $1.2855 from $1.2850.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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