Investing.com - Asian stock markets were mostly lower in thin trade on Monday, as appetite for riskier assets weakened following the release of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.5%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.37%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.08% higher.
Trade volumes remained thin, with markets in Japan and South Korea closed for holiday.
Data released earlier showed that China’s final HSBC Purchasing Managers Index ticked down to 48.1 in April from a preliminary reading of 48.3 and below expectations for a reading of 48.4.
The report indicated that China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the fourth consecutive month in April, underlining concerns that an economic slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy is deepening
Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong extended losses following the release of the data.
Property developers led losses with China Overseas Land & Investment (HK:0688) down 1.8%, while Sino Land (HK:0083) and Agile Property (3383.HK) retreated 1.4% and 1.7% respectively.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the ASX/200 Index pared most of it gains in reaction to the downbeat manufacturing data out of China.
Westpac Banking (ASX:WBC) declined 1.2% despite reporting a better-than-expected 8% annual increase in first-half cash earnings.
Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a modestly lower open as growing concerns over the conflict in eastern Ukraine overshadowed stronger than expected U.S. jobs data.
Ukraine's army and pro-Russian rebels continued to skirmish over the weekend, stoking fears that the crisis will develop and drag the U.S. deeper into the standoff.
The Euro Stoxx 50 futures pointed to a loss of 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 indicated a decline of 0.1%, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.3%.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. equity markets also pointed to a weak open. The Dow pointed to a drop of 0.05%, S&P 500 inched down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 indicated a fall of 0.1%.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, well above expectations for jobs growth of 210,000. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a five-and-a-half year low of 6.3%, compared to expectations for 6.6%.
The report also showed that the labor force participation rate, which measures the proportion of people either working or looking for work, fell to 62.8% from 63.2% in March. Meanwhile, average wage growth edged down in April from the same month last year, dampening the medium term inflation outlook.