Markets mostly fall, China stocks look “attractive”

Markets were mostly lower on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.2 percent.

However, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6 percent after China reported that its official manufacturing PMI rose to 50.3 in December from 50.1 in November.

Earlier this week, UBS Global Wealth Management’s regional chief investment officer Kelvin Tay told CNBC that Chinese stocks currently look “very, very attractive” after underperforming relative to European and US stocks.

However, Tay added that the Chinese market is unlikely to recover in the next three months due to a “distinct lack of catalysts”.