4 January 2025

A worker assembles a loader transport mechanism at a manufacturer in Zhengzhou, China.

norphoto | norphoto | Getty Images

The Australian market opened lower on the last trading day of the year, while investors in Asia awaited manufacturing data from China.

Australia Standard & Poor's/ASX 200 It traded down 0.56% in one short trading day.

Stock markets in Japan and South Korea are closed for the New Year holiday. Consumer price inflation accelerated in South Korea in December An increase of 1.9% on an annual basis. The CPI came in at 1.5% in November. On a monthly basis, prices increased by 0.4%.

Traders will be watching China's December manufacturing PMI. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a reading of 50.3, the same as the November PMI reading. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity, while a reading below this level indicates contraction.

Hong Kong stock markets will You have a short trading day.

Overnight in the US, stocks fell in one of the final trading sessions of 2024, as a banner year for investors appeared to have ended on a sour note.

Trading was choppy all day, and the Dow Jones fell more than 700 points at session lows. There was no clear news behind Monday's decline, and trading was expected to be light given the short week

the Dow Jones Industrial Average The stock lost 418.48 points, or 0.97%, to close at 42,573.73 points. the Standard & Poor's 500 It fell 1.07% to 5906.94 points Nasdaq Composite It fell 1.19% to 19,486.78 points.

— CNBC's Jesse Pound and Samantha Sobin contributed to this report.

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