MOF press conference; China CPI, PPI; China trade data

Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Monday, as investors assessed China’s weekend press briefing and awaited a slew of economic data this week from the region.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.47%.

Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index gained about 2%, while Hang Seng Tech index dropped 3.48%.

China’s Minister of Finance Lan Fo’an in a highly anticipated press briefing on Saturday hinted at more debt issuance amid efforts to shore up the economy, stating the government had a “rather large” space to increase deficit.

China’s deflation pressures deepened in September with consumer prices rising at their slowest pace in three months at 0.4% from a year earlier, while the producer price index fell at the fastest pace in six months, down 2.8%. Both metrics missed expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who estimated CPI to rise 0.6% and PPI to decline 2.5%.

China is set to release its trade data for September on Monday, with exports expected to rise 6%, a slower growth than 8.7% in August, while imports are estimated to grow 0.9%, compared to 0.5% in August.

China watchers also look ahead to the week with a busy set of economic data, including China’s third-quarter GDP, September industrial output growth, retail sales and unemployment rate.

Japan’s market was closed for a holiday.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.27%.

South Korea’s blue chip Kospi gained 0.63% while the small-cap Kosdaq index fell 0.43%.

Stateside, stock futures were little changed in overnight trading Sunday as investors waited to assess an upcoming batch of key corporate earnings.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near the flatline. The S&P 500 index futures were flat, while Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.1%.

— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.