A customer pays for his purchase at a dried food stall in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, March 3, 2022. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Hong Kong stocks led gains in Asia-Pacific markets as Xiaomi shares surged, while investors assessed economic data from South Korea and Australia.
The Hang Seng index gained 2.15% as traders returned from a long weekend, with shares of Xiaomi jumping nearly 15% after the consumer electronics company began taking orders on Thursday for its newly launched electric vehicle.
South Korea’s March inflation rate held steady at 3.1%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.
Australia’s factory activity contracted at its fastest pace since May 2020, with its purchasing managers’ index sliding to 47.3 in March from 47.8 in February.
Factory activity data from India is also due later in the day, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a stronger PMI reading of 59.4.
China’s CSI 300 index traded 0.25% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.12%, but the Kosdaq slid 2.24% after the inflation reading.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed slipped 0.14% to 7,886, retreating from fresh all-time highs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded slightly to gain 0.1%, while the broad based Topix was down 0.29%.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes ended mixed as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed 13 basis points to 4.319%
The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, and the S&P 500 dipped 0.2% The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.11%.
â CNBC’s Pia Singh and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
Source Agencies
