Asian markets set to resume trading after New Year’s Day holiday

Australian stocks opened higher on Thursday with many other Asian markets set to resume trading after the New Year holiday.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17% at the open. Markets in Japan remain closed on Thursday and Friday.

The South Korean stock market will open an hour later than usual, at 10 am local time, depending on the exchangethrough an opening ceremony for the new year.

Rhee Chang-yong, the governor of the country’s central bank, said in a New Year’s speech announced on Thursday that monetary policy will be “managed with flexibility and agility” given the “unprecedented increase in political and economic uncertainties.”

The Bank of Korea, which has sent back-to-back rate cuts – a first since 2009 – will announce its interest rate decision later this month.

Traders in Asia also weighed in on Singapore’s gross domestic product data. Based on preliminary estimates, the economy expansion of 4.3% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2024, slower than the 5.4% growth in the previous quarter.

Advance estimates of GDP are compiled based mainly on data in the first two months of the quarter and are subject to revision when more data is available, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Annual economic growth in 2024 accelerated to 4%, compared with 1.1% in 2023, according to official data published on Thursday.

The China Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for December is on track. Economists anticipate that manufacturing activity will come to 51.7, modestly higher compared to 51.5 in November, according to LSEG data.

The private survey comes a day later Official PMI in December missed expectationscoming to 50.1.

U.S. stock futures were little changed as traders prepared for a new year, after all three major indexes posted double-digit annual gains in 2024.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat, while S&P 500 Futures gained 0.06%, Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.17%.

The S&P 500 posted an annual gain of more than 20% for a second straight year, jumping 23.31% last year, building on a 24.2% gain in 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12.88% while the Nasdaq was in 28.64%.

—CNBC’s Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.