China's financial markets will be closed between Wednesday and Friday, May 1 to May 3, for the Labor Day holidays and will resume on Monday, May 6.

At close of trade, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index declined 0.26%, or 8.22 points, to 3,104.82. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 0.7%, or 12.36 points, to 1,756.08. The blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 0.54%, or 19.52 points, to 3,604.39.

ECONOMIC NEWS: China Manufacturing Sector Accelerates with 51.4 PMI in April- The manufacturing sector in China continued to expand in April, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Caixin said on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.4. That's up from 51.1 and it moved further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Underpinning the latest acceleration in manufacturing sector growth was better demand conditions. Incoming new orders expanded at the fastest pace in over a year, supported by improvements in underlying demand conditions and marketing efforts from manufacturers. Additionally, new orders from abroad expanded at the fastest pace for nearly three-and-a-half years. Global market demand improved at the start of the second quarter, according to panelists. In turn, Chinese manufacturers raised their production levels at the fastest pace since May 2023, though that still resulted in additional backlog accumulation. Sub-sector data revealed that the investment goods sector recorded the fastest growth across the measures of new orders, output, and backlogs.

China NBS Manufacturing PMI Slows to 50.4 in April- The manufacturing sector in China continued to expand in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.4. The NBS also said that its non-manufacturing PMI posted a score of 51.2, down from 53.0 in the previous month. The composite PMI came in with a score of 51.7, down from 52.7.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan eased against the dollar on Tuesday, despite tad firmer mid-point rate fixing by the central bank, amid caution ahead of the long Labor Day holiday and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week. Prior to the market's opening, the People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate at 7.1063 per dollar, 3 pips firmer than the previous fix of 7.1066. The onshore yuan opened at 7.2383 per dollar and was changing hands at 7.2427 at midday, 177 pips weaker than the previous late session close.

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