Investing.com - Asian stocks edged down in afternoon trade on Monday after the U.S. and Canada failed to reach an agreement on trade last Friday. China’s Caixin PMI received some focus as the index fell to a 14-month low in August.
“There is no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal. If we don’t make a fair deal for the U.S. after decades of abuse, Canada will be out,” Trump said on Twitter on Saturday. “Congress should not interfere w/these negotiations or I will simply terminate NAFTA entirely & we will be far better off.”
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component fell 0.8% and 1.0% respectively by 2:00AM ET (06:00 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also traded 1.0% lower.
The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 50.6 in August, the weakest since June 2017.
"The manufacturing sector continued to weaken amid soft demand, even though the supply side was still stable...I don't think that stable supply can be sustained amid weak demand," Zhengsheng Zhong, director of Macroeconomic Analysis at CEBM Group, said in a note accompanying the survey.
"In addition, the worsening employment situation is likely to have an impact on consumption growth. China's economy is now facing relatively obvious downward pressure.”
China Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is in negotiations with state-backed CITIC Group, the parent company of CITIC Ltd (HK:0267), towards the sale of luxury hotels, a football club, a brewery and a broadcaster in Czech Republic for $980 million, a 44% discount of the combined $1.75 billion valuation in May, according to the South China Morning Post.
Meanwhile, JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) founder and chief executive Richard Liu was reportedly arrested in the U.S. on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct. The company said it was a false accusation and Liu was later released on the same day, according to reports.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6% as data revealed that the Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.5 in August from a final 52.3 in July.
The survey also showed the index for new orders rose to a preliminary 52.4 from a final 50.9 in July, the first increase in four months.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% while South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.7%.