Aerial view of vehicles being driven on the road through the central business district on October 5, 2020 in Beijing, China.
Zhang Qiao | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Monday as traders awaited fresh manufacturing activity figures from China and rising expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut in December.
Traders are pricing in an 87.4% rate cut for the upcoming Fed meeting on Dec. 10, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Investors in Asia will be looking to China’s November manufacturing purchasing managers’ index from RatingDog, a private survey of mainly export-focused firms.
The gauge follows official data released Sunday showing China’s factory activity improving slightly in November, but remained in contraction for the eighth consecutive month. Services weakened as the lift from earlier holidays faded.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was set for a higher open, with its futures contract in Chicago trading at 50,405, and its counterpart in Osaka at 50,280, against the index’s last close of 50,253.91.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 was flat in early trading.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index pointed to a higher open, trading at 26,022, against the index’s previous close of 25,858.89.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asian hours after a winning week.
On Friday stateside, Wall Street came back from the Thanksgiving holiday for a shortened trading session. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.65% to end the day at 23,365.69, scoring its fifth straight day of gains.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 0.54% to settle at 6,849.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 289.30 points, or 0.61%, to finish at 47,716.42.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
