Asia markets mixed; Australia and China data closely watched this week

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed to start the week as investors look to key data from Australia and China later in the week.

The Reserve Bank of Australia will release its rate decision on Tuesday, while China is expected to release its trade balance for August on Thursday and its inflation rate next weekend.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index popped 1.59% and led gains in the region, while mainland markets were also in positive territory, with the benchmark CSI 300 up 0.72%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded up 0.52%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 also climbed 0.43% and the Topix was 0.64% higher.

South Korea’s Kospi traded marginally below the flatline, while the Kosdaq was down 0.42%.

On Friday in the U.S., the three major indexes ended mixed as traders weighed the latest U.S. jobs report, which showed that unemployment ticked higher to 3.8% in August, reaching its highest level in more than a year. Economists had expected it to remain at 3.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.33%, while the S&P 500 added roughly 0.18%. The Nasdaq Composite inched down 0.02%.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Pia Singh contributed to this report