Asia-Pacific markets slipped Thursday as investors look to the Bank of Japan’s rate decision, as well as key business activity figures from China.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index retreated 196.14 points, or 0.5%, to 39,081.25.
The BOJ held its benchmark policy rate at 0.25%, unchanged from the previous meeting. The bank released a two-line statement simply stating the decision, with no clues on the timing of its next rate hike.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 63.31 points, or 0.3%, to 20,317.33.
Investors are assessing heavyweight Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter earnings, which revealed a lower profit than the previous quarter. Most notably, Samsung’s semiconductor unit reported third-quarter operating profit of 3.86 trillion won (about $2.8 billion U.S.), down 40% from the previous quarter.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 inched higher 1.59 points to 3,891.04.
In China, the country’s manufacturing purchasing managers index flipped into expansion territory for the first time since April, with the National Bureau of Statistics revealing the manufacturing PMI came in at 50.1.
This beat forecasts from a Reuters poll of economists, who expected the manufacturing PMI to come in at 49.9, a softer contraction than the 49.8 the month before.
In other markets
Taiwan markets were closed for holiday.
In Korea, the Kospi index lost 37.64 points, or 1.5%, to 2,556.15.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was unchanged at 3,558.88.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 55.93 points, or 0.4%, to 12,638.91
In Australia, the ASX 200 slipped 20.33 points, or 0.3%, to 8,160.03.
