Currency traders walk by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index , left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 1, 2024. A currency trader walks by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index , at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 1, 2024.
However the government downgraded its estimate for growth in the first quarter of the year, to a minus 2.9% annual rate from the earlier figure of minus 1.8%. But a similar private-sector survey of manufacturing activity released Monday showed an improvement in business conditions. The Caixin Manufacturing PMI rose to 51.8 in June on a scale up to 100, compared with 51.7 in the previous month. Readings above 50 are considered to show an expansion.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3% to 7,744.20. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.2% higher to 2,802.87 after a private-sector survey showed South Korea’s factory activity was the best since April 2022.
Consumer prices rose 2.6% in May compared with a year ago, according to the latest personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE. That signaled continued easing from a 2.7% reading in April and is sharply lower than the peak reading of 7.1% two years ago.