Stock market today: Asian shares mostly gain after Trump picks billionaire for Treasury post
Shares are mostly higher in Asia, tracking last week's gains on Wall Street
BANGKOK — Shares climbed in Asia on Monday, tracking last week’s gains on Wall Street, and analysts said investors were viewing President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of billionaire investor Scott Bessent as his nominee for Treasury secretary as a relatively market-friendly choice.
Bitcoin fell slightly and oil prices also declined, while U.S. futures advanced.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.3% to 38,780.14 while the Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3% to 2,534.34. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3% to 8,417.60.
In China, shares fell further, with the Shanghai Composite index giving up 0.4% to 3,253.28 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong falling 0.3% to 19,172.07.
China’s central bank kept the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged at 2%.
Shares in technology companies saw big declines, with online shopping platform Meituan falling 4% while multimedia and video games company Tencent dropped 1.5%.
Taiwan's Taiex added 0.2% and the Sensex in India was up 1.4%. In Bangkok, the SET was nearly unchanged.
This week will bring an update on consumer sentiment from the business group The Conference Board on Tuesday and key inflation data with the release Wednesday of the personal consumption expenditures index for October. The PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to a meeting of the Federal Reserve next month.
On Friday, stocks closed higher on Wall Street as the market posted its fifth straight gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched another record high, gaining 1% to close at 44,296.51.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, to 5,969.34 while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%
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