Minutes of the meeting of the Bank of Japan

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Christmas Eve after key US benchmarks rose overnight, helped by gains in technology stocks.

of Japan Nikkei 225 decreased by 0.32% and closed at 39,036.85 according to the minutes of the October meeting of the Bank of Japan showed that members have agreed to stick to rate hikes if the economic and inflation forecasts are met.

Japanese car manufacturer Honda rose 12.69%, while Nissan shares rose more than 5%, a day later they announced the start of official discussions merge, laying pay create the third largest car manufacturer in the world. Discussions are planned to be completed in June 2025.

South Korea Kospi fell 0.06% to close at 2,440.52, while the Kosdaq gained 0.13% to close at 680.11.

South Korea’s consumer confidence has fallen to a two-year low. Countries consumer sentiment index The survey, released by the Bank of Korea, fell more than 12 points from November to 88.4 in December, falling below the 100-point mark that separates optimism from pessimism.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.08% to close at 20,098.29, while mainland China’s CSI 300 added 1.27% to close at 3,983.69.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.24% higher at 8,220.9 in a shortened trading day.

night in the usa stocks rose as the power of technology names helped the broader market.

The S&P 500 increased by 0.73% to 5974.07. Heavy machinery Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.98% to 19,764.89 as Tesla and Metaplatforms added more than 2% and Nvidia rose by more than 3%.

The Dow Jones industrial index erased earlier losses and ended the day up 66.69 points, or 0.16%, at 42,906.95.

Trading was weak on Monday and is expected to remain muted for the rest of the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early on Tuesday before Christmas at 1:00 PM ET, and the market is closed on Christmas Day.

— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.