Investing.com - Asian shares fell on Monday in holiday-thinned trade with China and other markets shut to mark May Day and regional surveys presenting a mixed economic picture.
The Nikkei 225 slumped 3.55%, while the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.36%.
On Tuesday, comes the closely-watched Caixin manufacturing PMI for April, which last came in at 49.7.
Earlier on Monday, the NAB business confidence came in at plus-5, compared to plus-6 in March, and the business survey came in at plus-9, from plus-12 in March.
The survey shows the economy is rebalancing towards the non-mining sector but exchange rate headwinds remain.
"However, subdued inflation pressures in the survey and a very weak CPI result for Q1 suggest the RBA has scope to further cement the non-mining recovery with an additional cut to the cash rate at tomorrow's (Tuesday) meeting, although it is likely to be a close call," NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster said.
Japan's manufacturing PMI for April came in at 48.2, above the 48.0 expected.
As well, Australia's AIG manufacturing index came in at 53.4. a sharp drop from last month's 58.1 level.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is due to meet Tuesday in what is expected to be a close decision expecting the cash rate to be left on hold. The case for a 25 basis point rate cut built last week after the first quarter consumer price index inflation surprised significantly to the downside.
"While margins remain tight, recovering domestic market share and building momentum in a variety of export markets provide a strong foundation for the lift in confidence required for the sector to move up another gear," AI Group Chief Executive Innes Willox said. "A budget that boosts incentives for business investment and innovation would come at just the right time for manufacturers to capitalize on recent gains."
At the weekend, the China April CFLP manuacturing index came in at 50.1, below expectations, but hanging onto expansion territory. The CFLP service PMI eased to 53.5 from 53.8.
The semi-official manufacturing PMI from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and National Bureau of Statistics slid from the first over-50 reading in eight months in March.
On the positive side, this is still the second consecutive over-50 reading - the first time that's happened since the middle of last year. Although gauges of output, new orders and export orders slipped marginally, they are still around the average of the past year.
The CFLP tried to downplay the slide in the manufacturing PMI, saying in an accompanying statement that "the stabilizing and recovering trend of the economy remains intact. The modest drop in the index is a normal fluctuation."
Last wee, U.S. stocks fell slightly on Friday, ending April with one of their worst weeks since early-February as a sell-off in the technology and health care sectors, as well as a wave of soft economic data weighed on the major indices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 57.12 or 0.32% to 17,773.64, while the S&P 500 Composite index fell 10.51 or 0.51% to 2,065.30, each closing lower despite a late rally in the final hour of the session. At session-lows, both indices moved into negative territory for the month before recovering to close the month fractionally higher.