Brent crude, WTI, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng index, oil
Skyline of Tokyo city, Japan.
Tomohiro Ohsumi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
While Asia-Pacific markets opened with a rise on Monday after the US attacked Venezuela on Saturday and captured its leader Nicolas Maduro, oil prices fell due to uncertainty and risk premiums regarding the oil-rich country.
Following the attack, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken to New York, where they were charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy and other crimes. According to the indictment, drug trafficking “enriched and entrenched Venezuela’s political and military elite.”
Brent crude oil Prices fell more than 1% before recouping losses and were last trading 0.25% lower. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil prices fell 0.4 percent.
Japan’s reference point Nikkei 225 The index is set for a higher open, with the futures contract in Chicago trading at 51,075 and its counterpart in Osaka trading at 50,620, compared to the index’s last close of 50,339.48. The index will return from holiday and open the first trading session of the year.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.21%.
of hong kong Hang Seng Index Futures contracts started trading at 26,442, compared to the index’s previous close of 26,338.47.
US stock futures were steady in early Asian trading.
On Friday, the first trading day of 2026, the S&P 500 closed slightly higher as gains in semiconductor names kept the index afloat.
While the benchmark index closed at 6,858.47 points with a 0.19% increase, Nasdaq Composite closed at 23,235.63 points with a 0.03% decrease. Both were quite positive earlier in the day, with the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq trading at their peaks, up 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 319.10 points, or 0.66%, to 48,382.39.
— CNBC’s Liz Napolitano, Fred Imbert and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
