Asia-Pacific markets open higher after Wall Street gains on tech strength

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

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix were nearly flat as minutes of the Bank of Japan’s October meeting showed that members agreed to stick with raising rates if the economic and inflation outlook was met.

Shares of Japanese automaker Honda surged 13%, while Nissan shares fell over 5%, a day after they announced starting formal discussions to merge, paving the pay to create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales. Discussions are set to conclude in June 2025.

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

South Korea’s consumer confidence slipped to the lowest in over two years. The country’s consumer sentiment index dropped 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 S&P/ASX 200 traded slightly around the flatline in a shortened trading day.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks rose as strength in technology names helped the broader market.

The S&P 500 gained 0.73% to 5,974.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.98% to 19,764.89, as Tesla and Meta Platforms added more than 2% and Nvidia climbed more than 3%.

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

Trading was thin on Monday and is expected to remain muted during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, and the market is shut on Christmas Day.

—CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.