Asia-Pacific markets rose on Monday after stocks rallied on Wall Street on Friday (Saturday AEDT) and following the United States’ strike on Venezuela over the weekend.
By 12:00 pm AEDT, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had increased 0.1% to 8,732.70 points, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.5% to 51,572.74 and South Korea’s Kospi 200 grew 2.3% to 638.42.
Japan’s global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index climbed to 50.0 today, beating consensus estimates of 49.7.
Indonesia will release data on inflation, exports, and imports today while Singapore will report retail sales data.
In the United States, the S&P 500 finished 0.2% higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite was flat.
Brent crude prices fell by 0.2% to US$60.75 per barrel on Friday before the U.S. launched an attack on Venezuela and seized its president Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was not impacted by the U.S. strike.
Spot gold was up 0.4% to $4,329.57 on Friday.
The Shanghai Composite was up 0.1% to 3,968.84 on 31 December, its most recent trading day, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange reopening later today. The CSI 300 fell by 0.5% to 4,629.94.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 2.2% to 26,189.79 on Friday, while India’s BSE Sensex finished 0.7% higher at 85,762.01.
European markets gained, with the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up 0.2% to 9,951.14, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2% to 24,539.34 and France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.6% to 8,195.21.
