A Chinese day trader watches a stock ticker at a local brokerage house in Beijing, China.
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Stock markets in Asia-Pacific started the week mixed as investors awaited China to resume trading, while U.S. markets were closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday.
All eyes will be on mainland China markets, which were shut for a week for the Lunar New Year holidays that saw consumer spending jump higher than pre-Covid levels, according to official data.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, reportedly, told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the United States must lift restrictions on Chinese firms and individuals, and attempts to de-couple from Beijing would only hurt Washington.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,343, pointing to a slightly higher open compared with the HSI’s close of 16,339.96.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower at open, while the broader Topix was flat.
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.8% when it opened, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq eked out a 0.1% gain.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched 0.1% higher.
Wall Street’s main indexes slid Friday after a hot inflation report sparked fears that interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve may not arrive until later than expected this year.
The S&P 500 fell 0.48%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.37% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.82%.
All three major indexes ended the week in negative territory, breaking their five-week winning streaks. The S&P 500 ended the week lower by 0.42%, while the Dow slipped 0.11%. The Nasdaq tumbled 1.34%.
â CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report