Asia-Pacific markets fell on Monday as investors took stock of China’s latest business activity figures and anticipated a series of upcoming economic reports. The decline was broad-based, with several key indices in the region experiencing notable drops. China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for August declined to 49.1, marking a six-month low. This figure represents a faster contraction compared to July’s 49.4 and is below the median forecast of 49.5 from economists surveyed by Reuters.

The PMI has now remained in contraction territory for four consecutive months, reflecting ongoing challenges in the manufacturing sector. In contrast, China’s non-manufacturing PMI increased to 50.3 from 50.2 in July. This index, which measures activity in the services and construction sectors, indicates a modest improvement but does not fully offset the concerns raised by the manufacturing data.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell by 1.68% on Monday, while China’s CSI300 index dropped by 1.2%. The decline was largely due to weak real estate sector performance.

Property developer New World Development led the losses, with its shares plummeting by 14.14% after the company forecasted a significant financial loss of approximately 19 to 20 billion Hong Kong dollars for the financial year 2024. Economic analyst Haibin Zhu noted that recent policies, such as potential mortgage refinancing measures, are not expected to revive the housing market significantly.