Europe stocks rise despite Greece plunge; Asia closes down
By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press
Aug 3, 2015 7:09 AM CDT
FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014, file photo, a street sign for Wall Street hangs near the New York Stock Exchange. Weak Chinese manufacturing weighed on Asian stocks Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, but European markets mostly rose, shrugging off a 22 percent plunge in the Athens benchmark which reopened...   (Associated Press)

BEIJING (AP) — European stocks mostly rose, shrugging off a 22 percent plunge in the Athens benchmark, which reopened after a five-week shutdown. Asian shares closed lower on evidence of weakness in Chinese manufacturing.

KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX rose 1.1 percent to 11,432.31 and France's CAC 40 gained 0.8 percent to 5,123.51. Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent at 6,701.13. Greece's stock market opened more than 22 percent lower as it reopened from a shutdown brought on by the near collapse of the country's financial system during its high-wire bailout negotiations. It recovered slightly, to trade 17 percent lower.

On Wall Street, Dow futures were up 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures flat.

MANUFACTURING: Surveys on manufacturing dictated trading in Asian and European markets. A rise in a eurozone survey to a 14-month high suggests the Greek crisis had little impact on the currency union's industrial activity in July.

In China, however, a similar survey showed Chinese manufacturing weakened during the same month. The Caixin purchasing managers' index, previously sponsored by HSBC, declined to a two-year low and indicated an outright drop in manufacturing. The report suggests weakness was concentrated in private and smaller companies.

ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.1 percent to 3,622.91 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.9 percent to 24,411.42. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 shed 0.2 percent to 20,548.11 and Seoul's Kospi declined 1.1 percent to 2,008.41. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent to 5,679.30. Taiwan, Singapore and Jakarta also declined.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "China will have several hard questions asked of it over the week, feeding into the concern it's facing a hard landing," said IG market strategist Evan Lucas in a report.

U.S. OUTLOOK: Investors were looking ahead to surveys of manufacturing and consumer spending due out Monday, factory orders Tuesday and data on employment and payrolls on Friday. The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. wages and benefits grew at their slowest pace in 33 years in the spring. That suggests companies are able to find workers without boosting pay, which could cause the Federal Reserve hold off any increase in interest rates.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude shed another 65 cents to $46.47 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $1.40 the previous session to close at $47.12.

CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 124.23 yen from Friday's 123.91 yen. The euro inched down to $1.0955 from $1.1010.