This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Monday, with investors awaiting a slew of economic data this week including China industrial data and India's third-quarter GDP numbers.
On Monday, Singapore released its inflation figures for October. Its headline inflation rate fell to 1.4%, the lowest rate of inflation since March 2021.
This was lower than the 1.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters and down from 2% in the previous month.
Looking ahead, October inflation readings from Australia are due Wednesday, and November inflation numbers from Japan's capital city of Tokyo will be released on Friday. Tokyo's inflation figures are widely considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends.
South Korea central bank's rate decision is due Thursday.
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Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.28% to close at 8,417.6, hitting a new all-time closing high. The index also reached a new intraday high of 8,462.1 during the trading session.
Money Report
Japan's Nikkei 225 was 1.3% up, ending at 38,780.14, while the broad-based Topix rose 0.71% to 2,715.6.
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.32% and finished at 2,534.34, and the small-cap Kosdaq saw a larger rise of 2.93% to 696.83.
In contrast, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.3% in its last hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 was down 0.46% to close at 3,848.09.
On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new high, capping off a winning week for stocks.
The blue-chip Dow gained 426.16 points, or 0.97%, to 44,296.51, a new all-time closing high and its third straight positive session.
The S&P 500 added 0.35% to finish its fifth winning day in a row, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.16%.
Gains were restricted by slides of 3.2% and 1.7% in Nvidia and Alphabet, respectively.
— CNBC's Alex Harring and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the scheduled day for South Korea central bank's rate decision.
Singapore's inflation rate falls in October, hitting lowest point since March 2021
SINGAPORE — Singapore's headline inflation rate fell to 1.4% in October, down from September's figure of 2%, as the cost of cars dropped and rent prices rose at a slower place.
The consumer price index rise was also lower than the 1.8% that was expected among economists polled by Reuters. It marked the first time that Singapore's headline inflation rate fell below 2% since March 2021, when it came in at 1.3%.
Singapore's core inflation rate, which strips out accommodation and private transport prices, came in at 2.1%, down from 2.8% in September and lower than the 2.5% expected in the Reuters poll.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said this was due to service inflation slowing, as well as prices of electricity, gas, medicine and clothing rising at a slower pace.
— Lim Hui Jie
China’s central bank keeps medium-term loan rate unchanged amid yuan weakness
China on Monday kept its medium-term lending rate steady, as the country's central bank seeks to stabilize the yuan which has come under pressure following Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election.
The People's Bank of China kept the medium-term lending facility rate unchanged at 2.0% on 900 billion yuan ($124.26 billion) worth of one-year loans to some financial institutions, according to the bank's official statement.
"It is a well-expected move, given that the market liquidity [has] remained ample," said Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of Research, Greater China at JLL, citing PBOC's move in October that injected 500 billion yuan into the banking system.
Read the full story here.
— Anniek Bao
Hyundai to recall over 42,000 U.S. vehicles over improperly routed wiring
South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor is recalling about 42,465 vehicles in the U.S. due to improperly routed wiring that may increase the risk of a crash, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Saturday.
The recall includes certain 2025 Tucson and Santa Cruz vehicles.
The U.S. auto safety regulator said that a vehicle transmission that could move out of "Park" mode without the driver pressing the brake pedal could cause the vehicle to roll away, raising the risk of a crash.
On Friday, the automaker also recalled over 145,000 electric vehicles in the U.S. due to a loss of drive power.
— Reuters
New Zealand trade deficit shrinks in October as exports jump 7.5%
New Zealand exports rose 7.5% year on year in October to 5.8 billion New Zealand dollars ($3.4 billion), up from a revised September figure of NZ$4.91 billion.
The rise was mainly led by exports of milk powder, butter, and cheese, according to government data
Separately, imports to the country also rose 3% to NZ$7.3 billion, compared to the revised figure of NZ$7.06 billion in September.
The country's trade deficit shrunk to NZ$1.54 billion from NZ$ 2.15 billion the previous month.
— Lim Hui Jie
CNBC Pro: Want to buy the dip in renewables? Morgan Stanley names 2 top picks with 60% upside
The sustainability theme faces an uncertain future under President-elect Donald Trump, but Morgan Stanley has named a number stocks with major upside.
The Wall Street bank identified its top overweight-rated stocks with over $2 billion in market cap and a revenue or capital expenditure exposure to sustainability themes.
Among its list of top stocks to buy are two renewable energy companies with over 60% upside potential.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Amala Balakrishner
CNBC Pro: How to invest $500,000 for the year ahead, according to 2 wealth managers
As investors position their portfolios for 2025, wealth managers are advocating for a diversified approach with selective bets on undervalued sectors.
CNBC Pro spoke to Ollie Clark, deputy head of research at WH Ireland, and Mark Preskett, senior portfolio manager at Morningstar Wealth, about how investors with roughly $500,000 could look to allocate their portfolio.
One of them also suggested how investors could capitalize on President-elect Donald Trump's policies.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
Market strength should continue into year-end, CIO says
Recent choppiness shouldn't make investors question whether the market has strength into the end of 2024, according to Robert Schein, chief investment officer of Blanke Schein Wealth Management.
"The stock market is living up to its historical dynamic of seasonal strength in November," Schein said. "We expect this strength to continue into year-end."
"Even though the market has been volatile over the past week as investors start to question the post-election rally, we believe the market's overall fundamentals remain strong and are supportive of stock prices," he added
— Alex Harring
UBS remains bullish on AI compute industry despite product, tariff risks heading into 2025
UBS still views upside ahead for Nvidia after its quarterly beat and expected Blackwell ramp — and is staying positive on the AI compute industry looking ahead to the end of next year.
"On the back of strong expected revenue growth in 2025, we maintain our positive view on the AI compute industry and NVIDIA in particular," analyst Sundeep Gantori wrote in a Thursday note. "Still, investors should not lose sight of potential risks in 2025, including around the product transition and tariff-related uncertainties."
Gantori recommended investors take advantage of higher near-term volatility by buying the dip in quality AI stocks or through structured strategies, given his positive view on AI semiconductors and leading cloud platform providers.
"[We do see some product transition risks around end-2025 and tariff-related uncertainty. At this stage, however, we think these risks are relatively manageable for the AI supply chain," he said.
— Pia Singh
Consumer sentiment edged lower after election, survey finds
Consumer sentiment in November moved lower following the presidential election but was still better than October, according to a closely watched gauge from the University of Michigan released Friday.
The last of three readings showed the sentiment index at 71.8, better than the 70.5 from October but down 1.3 points from the second reading. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 73.5.
"In a mirror image of November 2020 (see chart), the expectations index surged for Republicans and fell for Democrats this month, a reflection of the two groups' incongruous views of how [President-elect Donald Trump's] policies will influence the economy," survey director Joanne Hsu said.
The survey also showed misgivings about inflation: The one-year outlook nudged lower to 2.6%, the lowest since December 2020, while the 5-year rose to 3.2%, tied for the highest since June 2008.
— Jeff Cox