HONG KONG (AP) โ Stocks were mixed on Monday in Asian markets after Wall Street hit record highs again on Friday, while Hong Kong's benchmark index fell more than 2%, hovering near a low of 15 months. European markets opened higher.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 0.2% and the S&P 500 rose 0.3%.
France's CAC 40 added 0.5% to 7,434.81 in early trading. Germany's DAX rose 0.4% to 16,635.19. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 7,510.86.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.7% to 36,546.95. The Bank of Japan began a two-day monetary policy meeting on Monday and was expected to leave its ultra-low interest rates unchanged.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2.3% to 14,961.18. The index has contracted more than 10% this year, its worst start to the year since 2016. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 2.7% at 2,756.34.
China's commercial banks on Monday left their prime lending rate unchanged amid downward pressure on the yuan, disappointing investors anticipating measures to stimulate the economy. Last week, the People's Bank of China surprised markets by leaving the rate on its medium-term lending facility unchanged.
In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.3% to 2,464.35. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 7,476.60 points. In Bangkok, the SET fell 0.6%, while in Taiwan the Taiex gained 0.8%.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% to its record high of 4,839.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average set its own record a month earlier and gained 1.1% to 37,863.80. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.7% to 15,310.97.
Wall Street's rally was driven in part by hopes of rate cuts as U.S. inflation remained in check. Treasury yields have already eased significantly on expectations of rate cuts, and that helped the stock market rally accelerate sharply in November.
The Federal Reserve itself has hinted that rate cuts are coming, although some officials have indicated they could begin later than the market expects.
Friday's rally on Wall Street came with a big boost from technology stocks, something that has become typical of their bull run.
Several chip companies rose for a second straight day after major chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. gave a better-than-expected revenue forecast for this year. Broadcom rose 5.9% and Texas Instruments rose 4%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 46 cents to $72.79 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 55 cents to $78.01 a barrel.
The US dollar slowly rose to 148.22 Japanese yen from 148.14 yen. The euro cost $1.0894, down from $1.0897.
