Asia-Pacific markets strengthened on Monday after Wall Street reached fresh highs, with India’s inflation data due later today.
By 11:45 am AEDT (12:45 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had climbed 0.6% to 8,767.90 points, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.6% to 51,939.89 and South Korea’s Kospi 200 had risen 0.6%% to 672.06.
India will release consumer price index data for December today. Its annual CPI inflation will rise to 1.8% from November’s 0.71%, ANZ analysts project, with core inflation up to 4.6%.
Australia’s household spending increased by 1% in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today, lower than the 1.4% growth seen in October. Eight of nine spending categories rose.
In the United States, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% on Friday (Saturday AEDT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite grew 0.8%. The S&P and Dow reached record closes.
Brent crude prices gained 2.2% to US$63.34 per barrel. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,496.09 per ounce.
The Shanghai Composite climbed 0.9% to 4,120.43. The CSI 300 was up 0.5% to 4,758.92.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% to 26,231.79, while India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.7% to 83,576.24.
European markets increased, with the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 up 0.8% to 10,124.60. Germany’s DAX rose 0.5% to 25,261.64 and France’s CAC 40 grew 1.4% to 8,362.09.
