Investing.com - Asian stock markets edged lower in rangebound trade on Monday, as investors looked ahead to key economic data out of China and the U.S. later in the week to gauge the health of the global economy.
During late Asian trade, China’s Shanghai Composite inched down 0.01%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.11% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended down 0.37%.
Asia lacked a cue from the U.S., where Wall Street was closed on Friday due to the Fourth of July holiday.
Investors turned their attention to Wednesdays’ minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting. Upbeat nonfarm payrolls data released last week bolstered the outlook for the broader economic recovery and revived speculation over when the central bank may start to raise interest rates.
Meanwhile, China is due to release data on consumer price inflation on Wednesday, followed by a report on the trade balance on Thursday.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei ended modestly lower as investors booked profits on recent gains, which took the index to the highest level in five months on Friday.
Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a modestly lower open, after strong gains were posted on Thursday following comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 futures pointed to a loss of 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 indicated a decline of 0.4%, Germany's DAX pointed to a drop of 0.2%, while London’s FTSE 100 indicated a fall of 0.1%.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. equity markets also pointed to a weak open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.2%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 indicated a decline of 0.1%.