Asia-Pacific markets begin Christmas week higher; Nissan-Honda merger deal in focus

Asia-Pacific markets started the holiday-shortened Christmas week on a positive note, with investors awaiting the official announcement related to the merger of Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan.

The presidents of Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi have informed Japan’s industry ministry about entering into merger talks, Kyodo News reported Monday. They are expected to hold a press conference Monday afternoon, according to a Google translation of the report in Japanese.

Honda and Nissan are expected to hold board meetings Monday “to discuss entering into full-scale discussions toward a business integration, and then to sign a memorandum of understanding,” according to public broadcaster NHK. The companies aim to reach a “final agreement” in June 2025, NHK added.

Shares of Honda were 1.46% up, while Nissan shares were marginally higher at 0.2%.

Nissan shares saw a record surge last Wednesday, following a media report that the struggling Japanese automaker was looking to merge with Honda.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.68%, while the Topix was 0.51% higher.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.72%, and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.96%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.71%.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,886, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 19,720.7.

Last Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes climbed, helped by cooler-than-expected inflation data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.18%, while the S&P 500 added 1.09% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.03%.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, accelerated to 2.4% in November from 2.3% the previous month, but was still lower than the 2.5% estimate from Dow Jones.

Excluding food and energy, core PCE rose 2.8% from a year ago, slightly below expectations of 2.9%.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sean Conlon and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.