Asia-Pacific markets started the week on soft footing, with stocks in Tokyo leading declines as investors look ahead to key economic data from China and Japan this week.
Most notably, China will release its third-quarter gross domestic product numbers on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters expect a 4.4% year-on-year expansion, down from 6.3% in the previous quarter.
The People’s Bank of China left its one-year medium-term lending facility rate unchanged at 2.50%, as expected.
Japan’s September inflation data is expected on Friday, which will come ahead of the country’s central bank’s monetary policy meeting on Oct. 30 and 31.
South Korea’s central bank will also announce its rate decision on Thursday. The Bank of Korea has held rates steady for five meetings in a row at 3.5% since February.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.35% to 7,027.90, while New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index closed 0.71% lower at 11,185.08.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 2.03% lower at 31,659.03, while the Topix dropped 1.53% to 2,273.54.
South Korea’s Kospi index ended the session with falls of 0.81% at 2,436.24.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1% in the final hour of trading, while China’s benchmark CSI 300 index ended 1% lower at 3,626.60.
On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes ended the day mixed, pressured by a spike in oil prices and rising inflation expectations, as Wall Street wrapped up a volatile week.
The S&P 500 declined by 0.50%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.23% The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the outlier, rising by 0.12%
