China's largest political meeting in six years will begin this week.
Wang Yukun | Wait | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher on Friday, outperforming Wall Street benchmarks that ended lower in the first trading session of 2025, led by tech stocks.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index increased by 0.82%, while the benchmark Mainland China CSI 300 index changed course and fell by 0.28%, extending the previous day's broad declines.
China's bond yields hit record lows, with the 10-year bond yield falling 1.5 basis points to 1.598 and the 30-year Treasury yield falling 2.9 basis points to 1.819%, according to LSEG data.
The People's Bank of China is reportedly planning to cut interest rates “at an appropriate time” this year The Financial Times reported. citing comments from the central bank. Domestic 7-day repo rate currently it is 1.5%.
Moreover, China's Ministry of Commerce plans to impose export restrictions on certain technologies used to produce battery components and process key minerals such as lithium and gallium, according to a report published by China's Ministry of Commerce. notice issued on Thursday.
Investors in Asia will continue to assess political uncertainty in South Korea as the country's corruption watchdog seeks to execute an arrest warrant against deposed President Yoon Suk Yeol. – local media Yonhap News reports. Yoon's short-lived attempt to impose martial law on December 3 led to political turmoil in the country.
The three major U.S. indexes ended the first session of the new year lower, deepening weakness at the end of 2024 and signaling that markets may not experience a “Santa Claus rally” this year.
Investors expected approx “Santa Claus Rally” which covers the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the following January. During that period, the S&P 500 index gained an average of 1.3%, while rising almost 80% of the time, Dow Jones Market Data data dating back to 1950 showed.
Night in the States, blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27, while S&P500 fell 0.22% to 5,868.55 and was very high-tech Nasdaq Composite lose 0.16% to 19,280.79.
It marked the fifth straight session of losses for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, the longest losing streak since April. Big tech stocks weighed on the market, with Apple falling 2.6% and Tesla falling 6% on lower annual deliveries.
— CNBC's Jesse Pound and Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.