Nissan-Honda merger, focus on Singapore CPI

Asia-Pacific markets started the holiday-shortened Christmas week on a positive note, after A US government shutdown was averted During the weekend.

On Monday, investors will await any official announcement regarding the merger of the Japanese automakers Honda Motors and Nissan Motor. Japanese media outlet Jiji Press reported that the announcement could come as early as Monday.

This comes after Nissan shares It witnessed a record high last Wednesdayafter A Media report That the struggling Japanese automaker was looking to merge with Honda.

Japan Nikki 225 The Topix rose 0.68%, while the Topix rose 0.51%.

South Korea Cosby The small-cap Kosdaq, +0.72%, rose 0.96%.

Australia Standard & Poor’s/ASX 200 The day started with an increase of 0.71%.

Hong Kong futures Hang Seng Index It reached 19,886, indicating a stronger opening compared to the HSI’s close of 19,720.7.

Last Friday in the US, all three major indices rose, supported by cooler-than-expected inflation data.

the Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose by 1.18%, while it rose Standard & Poor’s 500 He added 1.09% and is technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Advanced 1.03%

the Personal consumption expenditures price indexThe Fed’s preferred inflation rate accelerated to 2.4% in November from 2.3% the previous month, but was still below the Dow Jones estimate of 2.5%.

Excluding food and energy, the core personal consumption expenditures index 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.