Asian shares retreat ahead of China data

From reuters.com

Asian shares fell on Thursday as investors waited for China's official manufacturing PMI for insight into whether growth in the world's second largest economy was bottoming out. The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3 percent after ending October with a 0.5 percent gain, in contrast to September's 5.6 percent rise. Australian shares fell 0.7 percent as miners and banks retreated ahead of the Chinese data, while South Korean shares opened down 0.4 percent. The final reading of China's HSBC manufacturing PMI for smaller firms will also be reported. "Last month, both (Chinese PMI) reports ... (full story)