People pose for photos in front of a Christmas lighting installation in downtown Seoul, December 22, 2023.
Jung Yeon-je | Af | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher on Christmas Eve after key US benchmarks rose overnight, helped by gains in tech stocks.
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a stronger market opening, with the Chicago futures contract at 39,305 and its Osaka counterpart at 39,300 compared with the index's previous close of 39,161.34. The Bank of Japan is scheduled to publish the minutes of its October meeting.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index futures settled at 19,924, higher than the HSI Index's last close of 19,883.13.
Australia S&P/ASX200 were trading slightly above the flat line on the shortened trading day.
Traders will be monitoring any developments related to the planned merger of Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda, which they announced on Monday began formal discussions combine, paving the pay for creation the world's third largest car manufacturer by sales. The talks are scheduled to end in June 2025.
Night in the USA stocks rose because the power of technology names helped the broader market.
The S&P500 gained 0.73% to 5,974.07. Technologically advanced Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.98% to 19,764.89, as Tesla AND Metaplatforms added over 2% i Nvidia increased by over 3%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average made up for earlier losses and ended the day higher by 66.69 points, or 0.16%, to 42,906.95.
Trading was light on Monday and is expected to remain quiet during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday morning on Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. EST, and the exchange is closed on Christmas Day.
—CNBC's Yun Li contributed to this report.