China’s factory activity at lowest reading since April; Asia markets mixed

The price of bitcoin briefly surpassed $17,000 in Asia’s morning session for the first time since mid-November.

Bitcoin rose 2.2% from the 24 hours previous, according to Coin Metrics and last traded at $16,863.07 per coin.

Ether also rose, and was up 4.74% in the past 24 hours, trading at $1,268.46.

Australia’s consumer price index for October slowed to 6.9% on an annualized basis, from 7.3% in September, according to a monthly indicator by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The rise in prices for housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as transport led the overall CPI indicator higher.

China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for November came in at 48, below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.

That’s lower than the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, who predicted a reading of 49. October’s PMI was 49.2.

PMI readings are sequential and represent month-on-month changes in factory activity.

— Abigail Ng

Hong Kong-listed shares of Bilibili popped as much as 12.7% in Asia’s morning after the company beat revenue estimates for the third quarter of the year.

Net revenue came in at 5.79 billion Chinese yuan ($809.8 million), 11% higher than the same period in 2021. Estimates from Refinitiv Eikon predicted revenue of 5.52 billion yuan.

Net losses narrowed to 1.7 billion yuan, and average monthly active users grew 25% on an annualized basis.

U.S.-listed shares of the company soared 22% overnight, while the Hong Kong shares were last up 8.47%.

— Abigail Ng

South Korea and Japan’s industrial production each saw declines for the month of October.

Japan’s preliminary industrial production for October declined 2.6% compared to a month ago, more than expectations of a decline of 1.5%, according to a Reuters poll.

The reading marks the second consecutive decline after seeing a fall of 1.7% the previous month.

South Korea’s industrial production also fell by 3.5% compared with a month ago, also lower than expectations of a decline of 1%. The reading marked the lowest since May 2020, when output declined 6.7%.

– Jihye Lee

China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for November is expected to come in at 49, below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction, according to analysts polled by Reuters.

That’s slightly lower than the reading of 49.2 reported in October.

PMI readings are sequential and represent month-on-month changes in activity.

— Abigail Ng

Chinese health authorities said that officials are “closely watching” the developments of Covid when asked if protests in the region would lead to shifts in its zero-Covid policy.

“China has been following and closely watching the virus as it evolves and mutates,” officials said, according to a translation of Tuesday’s briefing.

– Christine Wang, Evelyn Cheng

Goldman Sachs’ Global Head of Commodities Research Jeff Currie told CNBC that historically, oil stocks have traded at a much higher premium to crude oil prices compared to current price levels.

For instance, the price gap between SPDR Oil & Gas ETF and ICE Brent Crude futures contract was about $66.60 on Tuesday. That’s significantly lower than the $104 gap recorded at the start of January 2017, according to Koyfin data, as the chart below shows.

China’s health authorities released a plan to boost elderly vaccination, according to a notice on the National Health Commission’s website.

Hong Kong-listed shares of CanSino Biologics extended gains in the afternoon session and rose as much as 18% shortly after the announcement was posted.

The notice said authorities should use multiple data points to accurately identify target groups for vaccination for the elderly.

Wall Street pros are worried about the outlook for stocks, and are urging investors to stay defensive. These stocks with margin growth could be safe bets.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 3.07 points, or 0.01%, higher after trading down for much of the day. The index ended the day at 33,852.53.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite finished lower by 0.59%, to close at 10,983.78. The S&P 500 slipped by 0.16% to close at 3,957.63.

— Alex Harring