Boats navigated the bustling Huangpu River in Shanghai on a day marked by mixed trading across Asia-Pacific markets as investors awaited Chinese inflation data set to be released later. On this occasion, the CSI 300 index in China declined by 0.25%, reflecting a 0.8% rise in consumer prices for December from the previous year, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics. This figure aligns closely with the 0.7% increase noted in November and meets economists’ forecasts from a Reuters poll. Additionally, factory-gate prices saw a 1.9% year-on-year dip in December, slightly better than the anticipated 2% decrease.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index showed a slight gain of 0.12%. Japan’s index also rallied, with the Nikkei 225 advancing by 0.54% and the broader Topix increasing by 0.46%. Notably, shares of Fast Retailing surged more than 7% after the Uniqlo operator announced a significant quarterly operating profit boost of about one-third and raised its full-year forecast, attributing much of its success to robust global sales that mitigated the effects of U.S. tariffs. This marks its trajectory towards a fifth consecutive year of profit growth, fueled by rising sales in China and a rapid expansion in North America and Europe.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi fell by 0.41%, and the small-cap Kosdaq declined by 0.21%. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 hovered just below the flatline, with shares of Rio Tinto plummeting over 5% following late-stage buyout discussions with Glencore. If successful, this merger would create a mining powerhouse valued at nearly $207 billion.
Looking ahead to the Hong Kong open, the Hang Seng Index futures indicated an upward trend, trading at 26,312, up from the previous close of 26,149.31. This comes as shareholders of Hang Seng Bank recently greenlit a proposal by majority owner HSBC to take the bank private.
On the geopolitical front, defense stocks in Asia experienced an uptrend as tensions escalated following the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro alongside President Donald Trump’s renewed ambitions regarding Greenland. In Japan, shares of Kawasaki Heavy Industries rose by 1.46%, while IHI gained 1.98%. South Korea’s Poongsan experienced a notable gain of over 4%, and Korea Aerospace saw a 1.33% advancement, with Hanwha Aerospace climbing as much as 5.87%.
In the U.S., equity futures remained relatively flat during early Asian trading hours, as investors prepared for an upcoming December jobs report and anticipated a potential Supreme Court ruling on the legality of tariffs imposed by President Trump. Notably, the previous day saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average register a gain of 270.03 points, or 0.55%, closing at 49,266.11, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite faced pressure, declining by 0.44% to settle at 23,480.02. The S&P 500 experienced a marginal rise of 0.01%, closing at 6,921.46, with the information technology sector lagging behind, falling by over 1%.
