Asian stocks mixed after Wall Street retreats from record high

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press</span>
Published Tuesday, October 31, 2017 12:52AM EDT

TOKYO - Shares meandered Tuesday in Asia after markets retreated from their record highs overnight and China reported weak manufacturing data.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4 per cent to 21,933.52 as the yen gained against the U.S. dollar, hurting exporters' shares. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2 per cent to 28,283.34 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1 per cent to 3,386.04. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.4 per cent to 2,510.09 after Samsung reported record profits. The S&P ASX 200 in Australia was almost unchanged at 5,917.50. Shares in Southeast Asia were mixed.

CENTRAL BANK WATCH: Investors expect President Donald Trump to announce his choice for the next chair of the Federal Reserve by the week's end. The choice could have far-ranging effects on the markets, particularly if a new chair advocates a more aggressive policy in raising interest rates than the incumbent Janet Yellen has. The Fed is due to start a two-day meeting on Tuesday. It's expected to raise rates at its next meeting in December, which would be the third increase of the year. Other central banks meeting this week include the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England.

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.4 per cent to 23,348.74 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.3 per cent to 2,572.83. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.1 per cent to 6,698.96, while the small-cap Russell 2000 index lost 1.2 per cent to 1,490.90. Losses for health care stocks, telecoms and other areas of the market overshadowed gains for technology companies and energy producers.

EARNINGS: This week will see more than 100 companies in the S&P 500 index report their earnings results for July through September. In Asia, Samsung Electronics Co. reported another record high in quarterly earnings on a breathtaking run for a company that is fighting to get its leader out of jail. The South Korean company's July-September net income surged 150 per cent to 11 trillion won ($9.8 billion), compared with 4.4 trillion won a year earlier.

CHINA MANUFACTURING: An official survey said Chinese manufacturing activity expanded in October at a slower pace than the previous month as output weakened. The purchasing managers' index released Tuesday fell to 51.6 from 52.4 in September. The index is based on a 100-point index where 50 divides expansion from contraction. The surveys are closely watched leading indicators for China's economy, the world's second biggest.

ANALYST'S VIEWPOINT: "Today's official PMI readings suggest that economic activity cooled this month, most likely due to disruptions to industrial activity in north-eastern China as a result of the ongoing environmental crackdown, as well as softer investment spending in response to slower credit growth and the unwinding of pre-Party Congress fiscal support. We anticipate further weakness in the months ahead," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 9 cents to $54.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 25 cents to settle at $54.15 per barrel on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 10 cents to $60.49.

CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped to 113.12 yen from 113.18 Japanese yen late Monday. The euro slipped to $1.1638 from $1.1650. The British pound fell to $1.3199 from $1.3208.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

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