Singapore city skyline on September 18, 2016.
Rustam Azmi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Australia stocks opened higher Thursday with other Asian markets set to resume trading after New Year’s Day holiday.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17% at open. Markets in Japan remained closed on Thursday and Friday for Bank holiday.
Traders in Asia assessed Singapore’s gross domestic product data. Based on advance estimates, the economy expanded by 4.3% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2024, slower than the 5.4% growth in the previous quarter.
The advance GDP estimates are compiled based mostly on data in the first two months of the quarter and are subject to revision when more data become available, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The annual economic growth in 2024 accelerated to 4%, compared with 1.1% in 2023, according to official data on Thursday.
China’s Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for December is on tap. Economists anticipate the manufacturing activity to come in at 51.7, modestly higher compared with 51.5 in November, according to LSEG data.
The private survey comes a day after the official PMI in December missed expectations, coming in at 50.1.
U.S. stock futures were little changed as traders geared up for a fresh year, after all three major indexes logged double-digit annual gains in 2024.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.06%, Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.17%.
The S&P 500 recorded an annual gain of over 20% for a second straight year, jumping 23.31% last year, building on a gain of 24.2% in 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12.88% while the Nasdaq was up by 28.64%.
—CNBC’s Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.