Investing.com - Asian-Pacific (APAC) shares opened on a positive note Monday, riding on the momentum set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which ended above the 40,000 mark for the first time in history last Friday.
By 10:30 am AEST (12:30 am GMT) the S&P/ASX 200, KOSPI 200 and Nikkei 225 were up 0.4%, 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
Both PPI and CPI readings were modest last week, pushing all three indexes to record levels. US stocks mostly closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones gaining 134 points or 0.3%, to end at an all-time high of 40,003. The S&P 500 rose by 0.1% to 5,303, propelled by the energy and materials sectors, while the NASDAQ Composite slipped 0.1% to 16,685 as technology stocks weakened.
Over the week, the Nasdaq rose 2.1%, the S&P 500 added 1.5%, and the DJIA gained 1.2%.
Among the most actively traded stocks on Friday, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) dropped 5.17% to $4.40 per share. GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) fell by 19.73% to $22.21, while Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) climbed 1.5% to $177.46, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose 1.14% to $164.47 per share.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil increased by 0.9% to US$83.98 per barrel, while gold saw a 1.6% rise to US$2,415.22. In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2-year government bonds increased to 3.90%, and the 10-year yield also rose to 4.21%. Yields on US Treasury notes were up, with the 2-year yield at 4.82% and the 10-year yield at 4.42%.
Chinese shares bounced back from initial losses to close higher after the central bank and financial regulators relaxed mortgage rules and encouraged local governments to buy excess housing to address the ongoing property crisis. Meanwhile, energy stocks declined following the Biden administration's increased tariffs on the solar sector.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 0.9% higher, led by property stocks, following a similar move by China's central bank and financial regulators. In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average closed 0.3% lower as declines in tech and chemical stocks offset gains in auto and bank shares.
India's benchmark Sensex closed 0.5% higher, as gains in auto and bank stocks helped offset losses in industrial and tech stocks.
In Europe, stocks slipped on Friday, with the FTSE 100 Index falling 0.2% to 8420.26. Shares in Germany and France also saw slight decreases, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index slipping 0.1% to 522.94, Germany's DAX dropping 0.2% to 18,704.42, and France's CAC 40 losing 0.3% to 8,167.50.