Asian Shares Mixed; China Services PMI In Focus

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks fluctuated on Monday despite U.S. stocks rebounding sharply on Friday, led by gains in the technology sector.

The dollar was mixed against major currencies after positive U.S. House Speaker election results.

China's onshore yuan breached a key milestone for the first time since late 2023 amid reports that the People's Bank of China will issue the largest-ever offshore yuan bonds in Hong Kong this month.

Gold ticked higher in Asian trade on safe-haven demand while oil prices hovered at their highest since October.

China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.4 percent amid looming U.S-China trade tensions. Investors also looked for greater clarity on the implementation of stimulus policies.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.1 percent despite a measure of China's services activity hitting a seven-month high.

Japan's Nikkei index was down nearly 1 percent on the first trading day of 2025. The yen gave up some of its gains from late last week to trade around 157 per dollar.

South Korea's Kospi average jumped 1.3 percent after a court dismissed an appeal by lawyers of Yoon Suk Yeol against an arrest warrant for the impeached president.

Australian markets were marginally higher as tech stocks mirrored U.S. gains, offsetting declines in the mining sector as iron ore prices tumbled.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 was little changed with a positive bias.

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Friday after a shaky start to the new year. Shares of major tech companies surged amid expectations that they would benefit from continued spending on artificial intelligence.

Bond yields eased slightly as new data showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slower rate in December.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.8 percent and the S&P 500 surged 1.3 percent to snap a five-day losing streak while the Dow added 0.8 percent.

European stocks closed on a sluggish note Friday at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Luxury, auto and mining stocks led losses after reports emerged that China would sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds in 2025.

The pan European STOXX 600 declined half a percent. The German DAX shed 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTST 100 dipped 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 gave up 1.5 percent.