Asia Stocks Trade Higher in Response to an Higher-than-Expected Chinese PMI in March

Stocks in Asia traded higher on early Tuesday after China reported the official Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) for March at 52.0, beating all expectations for the country heavily hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

 

Nikkei rebounded 1.12%, ASX 200 jumped 3.38% and Kospi rose 2.09%, SSEC gained 0.72% and HSI hiked 1.81%. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan Index was 0.76% higher.

Overnight, Dow Jones hiked 3.19%, S&P 500 gained 3.35% and Nasdaq rose 3.62%.

 

The release of Chinese PMI has beaten all forecasts from analysts that expected the official PMI to come in at 45 for the month of March, rising from a record low of 35.7 a month earlier. However, China made a surprise by reporting a much higher PMI at 52.0, despite an impact from the virus outbreak in Hubei which housed the majority of manufacturers in China.