Asia-Pacific markets fall in year-end trade; investors parse China manufacturing data

Asia-Pacific markets fell on the holiday-shortened and final trading day of the year.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched 0.03% lower to close at 8,714.3.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.87% to close at 25,630.54, while the mainland CSI 300 was 0.44% lower. China’s economy ended the year on a slightly less gloomy note, as factory activity expanded in December for the first time since March, beating expectations, according to official data released Wednesday.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.1 in December, above the 49.2 forecast by economists polled by Reuters, and higher than 49.2 in November. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The MSCI All Country World Index, which measures the performance of over 2,500 large and mid-cap equities from developed and emerging markets, has climbed over 21% since the start of the year, hitting a record high of 1,024.29 on Dec. 26, data from LSEG showed.

Japan and South Korea are shut for the day.

U.S. equity futures were flat in early Asian hours.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 fell modestly, notching a third consecutive losing session. The broad market index lost 0.14% and closed at 6,896.24, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.24% and settled at 23,419.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.20%, and ended at 48,367.06.

The three major averages have slumped to start the week, dragged down by losses in tech. Nvidia posted back-to-back losing sessions, as did fellow AI play Palantir Technologies.

—CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie, Sean Conlon and Liz Napolitano contributed to this report.