A couple looks at LED lights before Christmas in Tokyo, Japan
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The markets in the Asia-Pacific region started the Christmas week, which was shortened by the holidays, on a positive note The government shutdown in the USA was averted on the weekend.
On Monday, investors will be paying attention to official announcements related to the merger of Japanese automakers Honda engines And Nissan engine. Japanese media outlet Jiji Press has reported that the announcement could come as early as Monday.
This comes after Nissan shares saw a record increase last Wednesdayaccording to a Media report that the troubled Japanese automaker was seeking a merger with Honda.
Japan Nikkei 225 rose 0.68% while the Topix was 0.51% higher.
South Korea Kospi gained 0.72% and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.96%.
Australia S&P/ASX 200 started the day with a gain of 0.71%.
Futures for Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was at 19,886, indicating a stronger opening price compared to the HSI’s closing price of 19,720.7.
Last Friday in the US, all three major indices rose, supported by cooler than expected inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.18%, while the S&P 500 increased by 1.09% and the technology focus Nasdaq Composite advanced by 1.03%.
The Price index of personal consumption expendituresthe Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose to 2.4% in November from 2.3% the previous month, but was still below the Dow Jones estimate of 2.5%.
Excluding food and energy, core PCE increased 2.8% year over year, slightly below expectations of 2.9%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sean Conlon and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
