Bank of Japan meeting minutes

Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Christmas Eve, after key US benchmarks rose overnight helped by gains in technology stocks.

of Japan Nikkei 225 and Topix opened mostly flat as investors awaited minutes from the Bank of Japan’s October meeting.

South Korea Kospi rose 0.31% while the Kosdaq was 0.72% higher.

Consumer confidence in South Korea fell to the lowest in more than two years. The country consumer sentiment index fell by more than 12 points from November to 88.4 in December, falling below the 100-point mark that separates optimism from pessimism, a survey released by the Bank of Korea showed.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 19,924, higher than the HSI’s last close of 19,883.13.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 traded slightly around the flat line in a shortened trading day.

Traders will monitor any developments related to the planned merger of Japanese carmakers Nissan and Honda, which announced on Monday that they had begun formal discussions to join, allowing the payment to create the third largest car manufacturer in the world by sales. The talks are set to conclude in June 2025.

At night in the United States, stocks rose as strength in technology names helped the broader market.

U S&P 500 gained 0.73% to 5,974.07. The technological heavyweight Nasdaq Composite rose 0.98% to 19,764.89, as Tesla and Meta Platforms add more than 2% and Nvidia rose more than 3%.

U Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier losses and ended the day 66.69 points higher, or 0.16%, at 42,906.95.

Trading was thin on Monday and is expected to be quiet during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 pm ET, and the market is closed on Christmas Day.

— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.