Sydney Opera House Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Friday, lifting ranks with Wall Street peers that ended the first trading session of 2025 down, pressured by technology stocks.
The People’s Bank of China reportedly plans to cut interest rates “at an appropriate time” this year The Financial Times reported citing comments from the central bank. 7-day reverse repo rate in the country currently set to 1.5%.
In addition, China’s commerce ministry plans to impose export restrictions on certain technologies used to make battery components and to process critical minerals such as lithium and gallium, according to notification issued on Thursday.
Investors in Asia will continue to assess political uncertainty in South Korea as the country’s anti-corruption agency seeks to execute an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, according to local media Yonhap News. Yoon’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law on December 3 led to political turmoil in the country.
The three major US indexes ended the first trading session of the new year lower, extending weakness at the end of 2024, signaling that markets may not experience a “Santa bump” this year.
Investors hoped a “Santa’s Gathering” which includes the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the following January. During this time period, the S&P 500 gained an average of 1.3% while ending higher nearly 80% of the time, Dow Jones market data since 1950 showed.
Overnight stay in the country, blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 151.95 points or 0.36% and ended at 42,392.27, while S&P 500 fell 0.22% to 5,868.55 and technological Nasdaq Composite decreased by 0.16% to 19,280.79.
That marked the fifth straight session in the red for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, their longest losing streaks since April. Big tech stocks weighed on the market, with Apple down 2.6% and Tesla down 6% on lower annual shipments.
— CNBC’s Jesse Pound and Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.
