Chinese GDP data, oil, currencies in brief

Asia-Pacific equities were weaker in Monday morning trading as investors wait for the release of Chinese GDP data for the second quarter.

South Korea, Kospi, fell 0.3% in early trading, as shares in Samsung Electronics lost around 1%.

In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 index fell 0.66% as most sectors fell.

Investors will monitor Chinese Q2 GDP data, which is expected to be released at 10:00 HK / SIN, to see if policy makers will introduce more stimulus in the coming months.

"China's June GDP is expected to slow annual growth to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent in the previous quarter," Diana Mousina, chief economist at AMP Capital, wrote on Friday.

Markets in Japan are closed on Mondays for holidays.

This comes amid growing expectations from the US Federal Reserve regarding interest rate cuts at its monetary policy meeting later this month. Market expectations for lower rates are currently at 100%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Major Wall Street indexes have broken through several milestones and posted strong gains last week, after the top Fed official said the rate cut was imminent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed its trading week at a record high, while the S & P 500 index broke through a first close above 3,000.

At the same time, the US Office of Environmental Protection and Safety announced Sunday that Tropical Storm Barry has reduced crude oil production by 73 percent in US-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico. . Oil prices rose sharply last week as a result of storm turmoil and geopolitical concerns.

In the morning of Asian trading hours on Monday, oil prices reduced some of last week's gains, international benchmark futures prices fell 0.12% to 66.64 dollars a barrel and US futures fell by 0.13% to 60.13 dollars a barrel.

The US dollar index, which compares the greenback to a basket of peers, was at 96,811, after peaking above 97.5 last week.

The Japanese yen traded at 107.84 against the dollar after reaching levels above 108.8 the previous week. The Australian dollar was at $ 0.7018, after rebounding from levels below $ 0.692 last week.

Here is an overview of the data to be published in the coming day:

• China: Second Quarter GDP, Industrial Production, Capital Investment, Retail Sales and Energy Output Data at 10:00 HK / SIN
• Indonesia: June trade data at 12:00 HK / NAS
• India: wholesale price index for June at 2.30 pm HK / NAS

– Fred Imbert of CNBC contributed to this report.