Asia markets higher as China cuts reserve requirement; Hong Kong halts trading as typhoon approaches

Asia-Pacific markets rise as China’s factory activity for August expanded and the central bank announced a cut in reserve requirements to boost the economy.

Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite traded higher by 0.64% and the Shenzhen Component was up 0.82% after China’s factory activity expanded in August, surprising on the upside, according to a private-sector survey.

Also on Friday, the People Bank of China said it would reduce the foreign exchange reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions by 200 basis points — from 6% to 4%.

The Caixin/S&P global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 51.0 in August, better than the 49.3 that analysts polled by Reuters expected.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost nearly 0.39%. South Korea’s Kospi traded slightly below the flatline while the Kosdaq declined by 0.56%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.66%.