This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher Monday, as investors assessed China’s manufacturing and industrial profit data.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.92% to close at 39,565.8 while the Topix added 0.26% to end at 2,758.07. Shares of Japan’s chip-related companies dropped as Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s free open-source large-language model threatens U.S. AI dominance. Advantest declined 8.6%. Tokyo Electron dropped 4.9%, while Renesas Electronics fell 1.24%. Softbank Group, which owns chip designer Arm, slid 8.3%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.51% in its last hour of trade, while the mainland CSI 300 dipped 0.41% to close at 3,817.08.
China’s factory activity growth in January unexpectedly contracted, with the official purchasing managers’ index for January coming in at 49.1 versus Reuters’ estimates of 50.1. In December, China’s industrial profits jumped 11% from a year earlier, however, on a annual basis profits declined for a third straight year.
Australian, Taiwan and South Korean markets were closed for holidays.
China on Sunday introduced new initiatives to encourage the growth of index investment products in its latest attempt to support its struggling stock market. The China Securities Regulatory Commission aims to actively support the growth of equity and bond ETFs, amongst other measures.
The move follows CSRC’s measures last Thursday to encourage large state-owned mutual funds and insurers to purchase more shares.
Last Friday in the U.S., the three major averages snapped a four-day winning streak. The S&P 500 closed lower after hitting new records on Friday, as investors took some profit to end a solid week centered on President Donald Trump‘s return to the White House.
The benchmark index shed 0.3% to 6,101.24, reversing course after hitting a fresh intraday record earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.5% to 19,954.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 140.82 points, or 0.3%, to 44,424.25.
Excitement toward Trump’s pro-business policies has largely pushed risk assets higher last week as investors focused on his inauguration. All three major averages posted their second straight positive week, signaling that the bull market is back in full force after December’s pullback.
—CNBC’s Alex Harring and Yun Li contributed to this report.
Chinese tech stocks climb on DeepSeek optimism
Chinese tech stocks rose Monday on the back of optimism around indigenous AI startup DeepSeek that has taken the tech world by storm.
Shares of Hong Kong-listed Alibaba climbed 3.3%, while Tencent added 1.64%. Kuaishou rose 5.3% and Meituan inched up 0.2%.
DeepSeek launched a free, open-source large-language model in late December, claiming it was developed in just two months at a cost of under $6 million. Last week, the lab launched r1, a reasoning model that surpassed OpenAI’s newest o1 in several third-party tests.
In contrast, Japan’s chip-related stocks fell. Shares of semiconductor testing equipment supplier Advantest declined 8.6%. Tokyo Electron dropped 4.9%, while Renesas Electronics fell 1.24%. Softbank Group, which owns chip designer Arm, plunged 8.3%
— Lee Ying Shan
China PMI surprises as factory activity contracts in January; December industrial profits jump
China’s factory activity in January unexpectedly contracted, reversing the expansionary momentum in the past three months, partly due to a slow season ahead of the Lunar New year.
The official purchasing managers’ index for January came in at 49.1, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed.
China’s non-manufacturing PMI, which measures services and construction activity, fell to 50.2 in January, compared to 52.2 in the preceding month.
Separately, China’s industrial profits jumped 11% in December from a year earlier. Corporate profits have been recovering from a sharp 27% year-on-year plunge in September — their steepest drop since March 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read the full story here.
— Anniek Bao
Stocks close lower
Stocks finished Friday’s session in the red.
The Dow and S&P 500 each slipped around 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.5%.
— Alex Harring
Gold gains 1% to trade near record highs
Spot gold rose 1% to $2,781.66 per ounce on Friday to trade at its highest level since Oct. 31, when gold prices hit a record high of $2,790.15.
Gold’s climb back to its all-time highs came on the back of Trump’s comments at the World Economic Forum for lower interest rates. Uncertainty around the strictness of Trump’s tariffs and whether the U.S. president will ultimately settle for a trade deal with China also contributed to the rally in gold prices.
Gold is traditionally used as a safe-haven asset that investors flock to during times of political and economic volatility.
— Lisa Kailai Han
