Asia-Pacific markets rose on Monday following gains on Wall Street and ahead of China’s benchmark lending rates decision in the afternoon.
By 12:15 pm AEDT (1:15 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9% to 8,700.80, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.8% to 50,382.29, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 grew 2.2% to 580.68.
The People’s Bank of China is projected to hold lending rates steady for a seventh consecutive month, according to analysts polled by Reuters. The current one-year loan prime rate is 3.0%, while the five-year rate is 3.5%.
China’s seven-day reverse repo rate was also left unchanged at 1.4% earlier in December. The country’s factory output growth and retail sales both faltered in November, falling short of forecasts.
Australia and Japan will release minutes from their central bank meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, meanwhile. Japan will also report housing starts, unemployment, and Tokyo inflation data later in the week.
In the United States, markets closed higher on Friday as technology stocks rebounded. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% on Friday and was up 0.1% for the week.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3% on Friday and 0.5% for the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.4% on Friday but dropped 0.7% during the week.
Among commodities, Brent crude prices rose 1.1% to settle at US$60.47 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was up 0.9% to $56.52. Spot gold increased 0.1% to $4,338.77 per ounce.
The Shanghai Composite was up 0.4% to 3,890.45 on Friday. The CSI 300 rose by 0.3% to 4,568.18.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 0.8% higher at 25,690.53 on Friday, while India’s BSE Sensex increased 0.5% to 84,929.36.
European markets also climbed on Friday, with the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up 0.6% to 9,897.42. Germany’s DAX rose 0.4% to 24,288.40, and France’s CAC 40 was flat at 8,151.38.
