Australia stocks rise as Asia investors await China's official manufacturing activity data for March

SINGAPORE — Shares in Australia rose in Thursday morning trade as investors in Asia-Pacific await the release of official Chinese manufacturing activity data for March.

The S&P/ASX 200 gained about 0.5% as shares of major miners in Australia jumped. BHP advanced 3.82% while Fortescue Metals Group rose 3.03% and Rio Tinto surged 2.63%.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 27,825 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,790. That compared against the Nikkei 225's last close at 28,027.25.

China is set to release its official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for March at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN. The data release comes after an independent survey by China Beige Book showed China's factories were hit harder in the first quarter than last year.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 declined 0.63% to 4,602.45. The Dow Jones Industrial slipped 65.38 points, or 0.19% to 35,228.81. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged, dropping 1.21% to about 14,442.28.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.792 as it struggles to recover after dropping from levels above 99 earlier in the week.

The Japanese yen traded at 122.04 per dollar, still stronger than levels above 124 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.7508, having largely traded in a range between $0.747 and $0.753 so far this week.