ASX 200, Hang Seng Index
People celebrate the New Year at the Bank of China building in Central in Hong Kong, China, on January 1, 2026.
Lam Yik | Reuters
Asia-Pacific markets will start the new year in a mixed manner on Friday.
All three major indexes in the US retreated at the beginning of the year but still rose on a yearly basis.
Some Asian markets, including Japan and mainland China, were still closed for holidays.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day flat.
of hong kong Hang Seng index Futures settled at 25,648, slightly above the last close of 25,630.54.
Singapore is expected to release its fourth quarter GDP figures later today. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced in his New Year message that the country recorded stronger-than-expected growth of 4.8% for the full year 2025.
US stock futures were higher in early Asian trading; S&P futures rose 0.15% and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.12%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.16%.
In the US on Wednesday, the S&P 500 lost 0.74%, the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.76% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.63%.
But the S&P 500 is still up 16.39% year-to-date.
The Nasdaq Composite rode AI enthusiasm to a 20.36% advance, and the Dow is up 12.97% in 2025, somewhat hampered by a lack of technical representation.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
