Asian markets mixed following strong China factory growth

Asian stock market indices were trading mixed on Tuesday (1 November) with the Shanghai Composite up 0.36% at 3,111.50 as of 5.07am GMT. This followed stronger than expected factory growth in China.

On Tuesday, the world's second largest economy revealed both the official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) and the private Caixin manufacturing PMI. Both the surveys, which are an indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector in the country, showed a reading of 51.2 for October.

While a reading above 50 indicates expansion, a reading below that indicates contraction in activity. However, the bigger highlight of this reading was that while the official PMI reading was better than forecast, the Caixin reading showed the fastest pace of improvement since March 2011.

This added to views of many that the Chinese economy was stabilising. However, not all were optimistic. "While the headline numbers were eye catching, especially the rebound in the small and medium enterprises, markets remain unconvinced about the sustainability of the rebound especially given the credit system fuelling this growth looks worrisome," Cliff Tan, East Asia head of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Going forward, investors are said to be largely concerned about the outcome of the US elections. They are also said to be closely watching the policy decisions by the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve. While the former is due to be announced later in the day, the Fed's decision is expected on Wednesday.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.31am GMT:

Overnight (31 October), the FTSE 100 closed 0.60% lower at 6,954.22, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 0.10% at 18,142.42.

Among commodities, oil prices were trading higher. This follows Opec approving on Monday, a document that outlined its long-term strategy, signalling members were making progress with regards to making the necessary cuts in their output levels, according to CNBC. While WTI crude oil was trading higher by 0.26% at $46.98 (£38.40) a barrel, Brent crude was 0.64% higher at $48.92 a barrel as of 5.42am GMT.