A general view shows the skyline over the Central Business District in Beijing on February 28, 2023.
Jade Gao | Afp | Getty Images
Asia markets kickstarted this holiday-shortened week mixed as investors awaited policy decisions from key central banks, including from the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday and the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday.
On Monday, private surveys on service sector activity will be released from China and Hong Kong. Singapore will also release its retail sales figures for December, while Thailand will see its inflation numbers out for January.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day 1.05% lower, retreating from its all-time high on Friday.
In contrast, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.66%, while the broader Topix rose 0.51%.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.06%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.8%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is also set to fall, with futures at 15,412 compared with the HSI’s close of 15,533.56.
China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong will all see shortened trading weeks as the Lunar New Year approaches.
In the U.S., the S&P 500 notched a fresh record high on Friday as quarterly results from technology companies including Facebook-parent Meta topped expectations and the January jobs report came in much better than expected.
The broad market index added 1.1% to close at 4,958.61, above its previous record close of 4,927.93 reached on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4% to also set a new record close of 38,654.42, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.7%.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report