Marketmind: Try to top that one, Asia

By Stephen Culp

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Stephen Culp, financial markets journalist.

Asian markets have a tough act to follow on Monday – their own.

On Friday, Asian stocks wrapped up a mixed August with robust weekly gains.

The Shanghai SE Composite, the blue-chip Shenzhen, the and the broader MSCI Asia Pacific index all enjoyed their biggest weekly percentage gains in five, while the posted its largest week-on-week advance since June.

Renewed risk appetite was largely fueled by a series of actions taken by Beijing to shore up the economy, jump-start languid Chinese demand and stanch a mounting real estate crisis.

“Clearly, we’ve seen a significant slowdown in the Chinese economy the last couple of months,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “The government is pulling some levers to bring economy back, but they need to do more, and their consumers need to show more confidence than they are currently showing.”

China will begin the week assessing the human and economic damage left in the wake of Typhoon Saola, which slammed into Guangdong province on Saturday, lashing Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau.

This, even as Typhoon Haikui barreled into southeastern Taiwan, prompting the evacuation of thousands.

In the week ahead, Chinese Premier Li Qiang is slated to attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to Beijing’s foreign ministry.

On the economic front, South Korea’s CPI is expected to heat up on Tuesday, China and India post services PMI reports and China trade balance is expected on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Japan is due to release revised second-quarter GDP data and CPI and PPI reports from China are on deck for Friday.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:

– South Korea CPI (August)

– Australia Judo Bank services PMI (August)

– Japan household spending (July)

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